Rising of the Keyblade and Shield Hero
by KHLoverXVI
Summary: After using the power of waking to rescue Kairi, instead of Shibuya Sora is transported to Melromarc. there he must help the shield hero Naofumi combat against the waves of chaos and the Heartless while grappling with his own inner turmoil after the events of The second Keyblade war. Meanwhile Kairi is on her own mission to rescue Sora and bring him home.
1. The Key meets the Shield

**(Music: Dearly Beloved Re:Mind version)**

The Kingdom hearts 3 title screen appears showing an illustration of Sora walking in a field; on his right was Naofumi and on his left were Raphtalia and Filo.

**Downloadable content:**

**Re:Mind**

**Limit cut**

**Secret episode**

**Rising of the Keyblade and Shield hero**

The title changed from Kingdom hearts 3 to the Rising of the shield hero logo mixed with Kingdom hearts

* * *

Sora awoke and found himself lying on grass on a green hill overlooking a town. He stood up and dusted himself then viewed his surroundings perplexed about this unknown place he was transported to.

"Where...am I?" he asked himself

**World title: Melromarc**

He folded his arms as he tried to remember how he got here in the first place,

"let's see...I used the power of waking to find Kairi, went back to the final battle, did some things, found her, and now I'm here. I guess that about sums it up." he explained to himself. He looked up to the sky towards the sun and then a sudden realization sank in as he remembered the last words he said to her before disappearing.

**(flashback)**

Kairi and Sora were sitting on a paopu tree looking out at the horizon while holding hands. They then turned to each other and Kairi cried as Sora said, "I will come back to you Kairi, I love you."

"I know you will." was the last thing he heard her say before he disappeared from the world.

**(flashback ends)**

Sora looked downcast as he gripped his chest remembering the promise he made to her, a promise to return, then he pulled out her good luck charm she gave him.

"I will come back, and then we'll be together again." he said

He noticed the town and castle over in the distance so he decided to go investigate

"maybe someone there can help me get home." he said, and so he made his way into the town.

While he was walking through the town, he started to feel like he was walking through the streets of Twilight Town with all the merchants and buyers. As he was walking, he accidentally bumped into a man with black hair and a green cape.

"Watch it!" he said rudely as he continued walking.

"Sorry." Sora said.

As he saw him walking he thought to himself, _what's his problem?_ then he noticed he also had a shield on him, however he couldn't worry about the rude guy, right now he had to get to the castle so he can figure out where he is and get home.

He finally made it to the castle and saw it's design held up by a dozen pillars with a purple roof tile. Seeing this made Sora's jaw drop because it looked like it was even taller than Disney Castle. He put his hands on his hips and said, "here goes nothing." he walked across the bridge and reached the gates where he was greeted by two guards.

"Halt!" they both said crossing their spears over the gate.

"Whoa what's going on?" he asked baffled

"No one's allowed to see King Aultcray without permission, especially after the incident." the first one said.

"The incident?" Sora said baffled.

"You haven't heard? I'm surprised, but nevertheless the shield hero assaulted Malty.'' The second guard said

Sora was shocked to hear this but needed to worry about that later, "I need to speak with the king. Please, it's urgent." Sora said. T

he guards looked at each other then looked back at him, "Why?" the first one asked.

"I need to get back home. Back to someone I care about and I feel like he could help me." Sora said, the guards narrowed their eyes until they removed their spears and opened the gates allowing him in.

"We'll be watching you." he said almost threateningly, Sora looked at him nervous but continued on his way.

He walked through the halls of the castle admiring the decor and aspects.

"if King Mickey, Donald, or Goofy were here they'd be jealous." Sora said jokingly while putting his hands behind his head. He kept walking until he made it to the stairs, then he climbed up and reached the door to the throne room.

"Here goes nothing." he said to himself with confidence.

He pushed through the doors and was greeted by an alarm from the five figures in the room. The first one had to be the king since he wore royal attire, the second was a young woman with red hair a purple skirt and chest armor, finally came the last three and each one had a different weapon. The one dressed in greenish-yellow attire with curly blonde hair had a bow, the one dressed black and blue with black hair had a sword, and finally the one dressed in chainmail armor with long blonde hair in a ponytail had a spear.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion? Who are you?!" the king said angry.

Sora walked forward until he was near the throne then bowed.

"Your majesty, my name's Sora. I was wondering if you could tell me where I am." Sora said.

The king examined the boy closely and was baffled by his bizarre attire, _his clothing is very different from the common people, just who is this boy? wait, unless... _the king thought to himself. He snapped out of his thought and decided to greet him.

"My boy, you are in the country of Melromarc.'' The king said, "I am it's king, King Aultcray and these are the three cardinal heroes, Sir Ren, Sir Itsuki, and Sir Motoyasu." he continued as he gestured to the people in the room.

They all walked up and decided to greet him.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Itsuki Kawasumi." the green one said.

"I'm Ren Amaki." the blue one said.

"And I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, nice to meet you." the one in chainmail said. Sora got a good look at each of them to remember who they were.

"Well that's a mouthful, nice to meet you guys." Sora said

"So what brings you here kid?" Motoyasu asked

"I'm trying to find my way home. There's someone important waiting for me there." Sora said putting his hand over his heart

"Oh someone special huh? Is it your girlfriend?" Motoyasu teased making Sora blush

"N-no, yes, maybe c-can we get back to the topic at hand?" Sora said frantically while waving his hands around and keeping his head down so they couldn't see his face causing them to laugh except the girl.

That's when Ren decided to ask him a question, "Pardon my asking but where'd you come from Sora? The clothes you wear aren't the type the people here wear, nor the adventurers."

"Well actually I'm-" Sora was about to say until he heard Donald's voice at the back of his head screaming, _Order! _Causing him to cover his mouth to keep from spilling the beans.

"What's wrong?" Ren asked. Sora removed his hands and decided to answer, "nothing! It's just that I'm from somewhere far away from here and I just really need to find my way back to- ``

''You're from another world aren't you?" Itsuki interjected shocking Sora.

Everyone then looked at Sora in shock as he was left dumbfounded on how they figured it out.

"Holy crap really?!" Motoyasu shouted excitedly.

"Amazing." Ren said in awe. They continued being amazed while the girl at the throne just narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously

"How did you know?" Sora asked

"Your clothes gave it away. I saw that the king was analyzing you and then I thought to myself, "could he be just like us? Summoned here?" that's when I put two and two together and figured it out." Itsuki explained.

"What kind of Japan are you from?" Motoyasu asked making Sora confused

"Japan?" Sora questioned

"That's where you're from right? Just like us?" Ren asked

"No, I'm from a place called Destiny Islands." Sora said.

"Destiny Islands?" Ren questioned.

"That's a weird name." Motoyasu said.

Sora was about to continue until he remembered something the guards outside said, _the shield hero assaulted the princess._

"Wait a minute." Sora said getting everyone's attention, "there's only three of you guys here, but I thought there were four heroes." he said making everyone look away angry.

"There is a fourth hero, but we don't want to talk about him." Motoyasu said.

"You mean the shield hero?" Sora asked.

"How do you know about him?" Motoyasu asked.

"The guards outside told me about him." Sora answered.

The girl at the throne let out a hostile grunt quietly so no one could hear while crossing her arms.

"Is it true what they said about him?" Sora asked.

The three heroes looked at each other before turning back to him and answering, "yes, it's true. Yesterday on our first night here, the shield hero assaulted Malty." Ren said.

Once again after hearing this Sora was shocked but it begs the question, "why would he do that?" he asked.

"We don't know. But such a despicable act can't be forgiven nor forgotten." Motoyasu said gripping his fist.

"No I mean why would he have any reason? if he just got here same as you why would he have any reason to assault her, do you have proof?" Sora asked, the question of which left them conflicted.

"Well we found Myne's clothing draped over his bed." Itsuki said.

"I thought her name was Malty." Sora said.

"Myne's her adventuring name." Motoyasu said.

"Still though, that doesn't seem like much proof." Sora said.

"It's enough proof!" King Aultcray said.

"Are you sure? Cause it seems like you are accusing him of something he didn't do if you don't have enough proof." Sora said making the king question it until, "why so quick to defend the shield hero Sir Sora?" the girl said.

She walked from the throne towards him as Sora raised an eyebrow in question, "what do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean why would defend a criminal like him? Unless of course ***gasp* **you're in league with him?!" she said grabbing Motoyasu's arm.

"What?! That's impossible, I just got here!" Sora said.

"But Itsuki did say you came from another world, so you had to have been summoned the day we were summoned as well." Ren said.

This made Sora think, _maybe I did get summoned here when they did and I was asleep for a day. That would make sense, but still… _his thoughts were interrupted when the girl said, "of course! I remember he was there!" she said "he held me down as the Shield hero tried to violate me!" she said, making everyone glare at Sora.

"Wait you're Myne?!"

"Is this true?" Itsuki asked.

"What?! No!" Sora exclaimed

"Don't lie!" Motoyasu said holding her by the waist and pointing his spear at Sora making him back up.

"Wait, don't tell me you believe her?" Sora said.

"Sorry, but we can't trust you. We still know nothing about you and if you are in league with Naofumi then we can't help you." Ren said while looking away.

"But you don't understand-" Sora said before the king interrupted.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" scaring Sora, "we welcome with open arms and now I find out that you are in league with the devil of the shield?! The one who nearly violated Malty?! GUARDS! SEIZE HIM!" the king shouted.

Guards came into the room and grabbed Sora by his arms, "hey! Stop! That is so unfriendly!" Sora said.

"Get him out of my sight." the king said.

"Wait! Please! I need to get back to Kairi!" Sora shouted as he was being dragged away while trying to break free. Before the doors closed, he saw Myne pulling her eyelid down and sticking her tongue out at him making him go wide-eyed.

**Outside **

The guards then dragged him outside the gates of the castle.

"I warned you." the first guard said as both of them threw him and he fell to the ground then went inside and closed the gates.

Sora stood up and dusted himself off saying, "rude." then he looked at the castle again.

"Well that could've gone better." he said to himself, "I guess I'm stuck here until I find a way home, or until I find another way. One that doesn't involve their help." he said deciding to walk back towards town.

As he walked he pulled out Kairi's good luck charm and said, "guess it'll take me a little while longer, wait for me okay?" on the way he was thinking,_ why would she try to frame me? I didn't do anything to her. *__**sigh* **__ maybe it's something else._

When he made it to town everyone was giving him dirty looks and were keeping away from him. Sora knew exactly why, "news spreads fast."

As he was walking he noticed clouds were forming above him, "looks like it's gonna rain." he said.

Once he had left the town and made it to the hills he saw the guy in a green cape from earlier fighting some orange balloon monsters, but then he noticed a black creature with antennas and yellow eyes coming towards him.

**(music: night of fate kh 1.5)**

"Heartless!" he said drawing his keyblade.

The man was too busy fighting the balloon monsters to notice the heartless and when he did, Sora came just in time to slice it down right in front of him.

"What the?!" the man shouted surprised.

"No time to talk! Here comes some more!" Sora said as more heartless appeared. He got into battle stance as the man looked on still confused especially with the weapon Sora was using, but got ready to fight.

"I'm only helping because we're outmatched. This doesn't mean we're a party kid." the man said.

"Does that matter right now?" Sora asked as he sliced down a heartless.

The man tried punching the creatures but to avail as his punches went right through them.

"Damn it! How am I supposed to fight these things?!" he shouted.

After Sora was done slashing a soldier heartless he said, "use your shield!" which caught the man by surprise, _how did he know about the shield? Wait… _he thought to himself remembering that's the same kid he bumped into on his way here.

He looked at his shield then looked at the heartless and decided to take Sora's advice. Using his shield he was able to take out two heartless jumping at him, "holy crap it worked!" he said surprised, so he kept going at it attacking heartless.

Sora managed to get a few with a radial blaster and a uppercut launching them in the air then finishing the ones on the ground with an aerial dive and the ones in the air with an aerial sweep. The man managed to cut a few down with his shield and block a few of their attacks. It seems they were thinning them out but more showed up.

The man backed up towards Sora and together theywere back to back

"There's too many of them." the man said.

That's when Sora had an idea, "I know what to do!" he said.

"Whatever you got planned, I'm all ears kid." he said.

"My name is Sora." Sora said back.

"Fine, Sora. what's your plan?" the man asked.

Sora started walking away then turned towards him, "what're you doing?" the man asked.

Sora then ran up to him, "get your shield ready!" he said, the man reacted quickly and readied his shield, then Sora jumped on it launching them both in the air, "huh?!" the man said confused while Sora grabbed his hand and threw him to the ground destroying the rest of the heartless.

**Combo move learned: bombardier**

**(music ends)**

After the fighting had stopped Sora dismissed his weapon the man walked up to him with questions.

"Hey you." the man said getting Sora's attention.

"That weapon you just had, what is it?" he asked. Sora summoned his keyblade shocking him.

"It's called a keyblade." he answered the man looked at the weapon perplexed, _a giant key? _He thought to himself.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

"Okay, but it won't stay in your hand for long." Sora said handing over the weapon. The man held it in his hand and was surprised, _this weapon isn't shocking me _he thought to himself before it disappeared and went back to Sora's hand.

"The keyblade belongs to whoever wields it, if someone else holds it, it goes back to the wielder." Sora explained.

The man was still surprised but remained stoic, "just to be clear I didn't ask for your help, I could've taken them on my own." he said walking away while Sora followed.

"Maybe with those orange balloons, but the heartless aren't something to mess around with." Sora said,_ Heartless? That's what they're called? _He asked himself in his head.

"I don't need a kid lecturing me on how I should choose my battles." the man said.

"I'm not. I'm just saying that maybe you need help." Sora said

"I already told you, I'm not looking for partnership and I'm not looking to join a party either. Especially with a kid." The man said rudely.

That's when Sora puffed his cheeks and stood in front of him agitated.

"Stop calling me a kid! I'm 16!" he said to him, the answer of course made Sora clear his throat and flush rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, exactly." The man said continuing to walk away.

"You're missing the point, you need help." Sora said.

"I work alone. I don't need help." the man said as Sora got in front of him again.

"What're you gonna do if the heartless show up again? You can't just fight them off with a shield forever. Just let me help you." Sora said. The man looked at him with cold eyes while Sora looked back at him frowning with determination.

_This kid's something else, yet he seems to know more about those monsters than I do. And also he seems like someone I could...no I can't, but his eyes are filled with determination. Just like me. _He told himself in his head.

The man put his hand on his hip and sighed, "fine. We'll work together." he said which made Sora smile, "but you better pull your weight or I'll drop you." he said which then made a sweatdrop appear on Sora's head.

"Sure." Sora said nervously. All of a sudden Heartless and the orange monsters appeared.

"Get ready Sora!" the man said.

"Right!" Sora said summoning his Shooting Star keyblade

"Oh and by the way, it's Naofumi." the man said.

"Huh?" Sora questioned.

"My name, it's Naofumi Iwatani." Naofumi said.

"Naofumi Iwatani. Got it." Sora said smiling.

"HAAAAAH!" they both shouted as they leaped to take on the next batch of enemies.

**Later **

Sora and Naofumi were sitting by a tree in the rain. It took them all night, but they managed to defeat all the enemies and Naofumi made it to level 2 in his stats. He turned to Sora and saw he was looking at Kairi's good luck charm.

"What's that?" he asked getting Sora's attention.

"Oh this? It's a good luck my friend gave to me." Sora answered.

"What's their name?" Naofumi asked,

"Kairi." Sora said

"She special to you?" Naofumi asked.

Sora put the charm over his chest, "yes." he said almost to a whisper, "that's why I have to get home. She's waiting for me. And I'm tired of making her do that." he said gripping the charm.

"Get home?" Naofumi questioned.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but I'm from another world." Sora said which made Naofumi a little shocked but made sense to him anyway.

"Of course you are, but so am I.." Naofumi said.

"Whoa really? you seem pretty calm about this, the other guys freaked out when I told them, but they didn't tell me they were from other worlds." Sora said

"Other guys?" Naofumi asked.

"Yeah, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu." Sora said which made Naofumi frown a little, and Sora noticed.

"Are you okay-"

"I'm fine!" Naofumi said interrupting.

He calmed down and asked, "What are those creatures we fought, the Heartless?"

"They're creatures made of darkness who are after people's hearts since they don't have their own and they feed off the darkness in others." Sora explained. _T__hey're after hearts? _Naofumi thought to himself.

Their conversation was cut short when they noticed more orange balloon enemies. They stood up and walked towards them

After that they made their way back into town, they saw a trader give a copper to some guy for exchange of some shreds. They walked up to the trader's stand and the guy with the copper backed away from both of them in fear.

"Welcome good sirs." the trader said. Naofumi pulled out the shreds he had under his cape and put them on the desk while the trader looked at him uneased.

"How much for all of these?" Naofumi asked.

"Hmm orange balloons are they?" the trader asked while examining them, "looks like 20 of them by my count, how does one copper sound for the entire lot?" he asked while smiling.

Naofumi grunted and frowned,

"Wait a minute but we heard you offer two coppers to the last guy for every two scraps he gave you." Sora said frowning also.

"Did I now? I don't recall that, you must understand I have a business to run." the trader said lying.

"That so?" Naofumi asked grabbing him by his shirt and opening his cape revealing Orange balloons attached to him, "can I assume that these will fetch a better price then?" Naofumi said threateningly as the trader looked at the orange balloons in fear, "they're quite lively." Naofumi said.

The trader looked at Sora in fear and asked.

"Are you just gonna let him do this?!" Sora held up his hands.

"Hey I'm just a tag along. You should worry about him." he said pointing his thumb at Naofumi. The trader looked up at him and saw him smile then chuckle. He let out a scream that was heard by everyone in the market.

Naofumi was holding him under his cape as the trader's screams were muffled, while Sora had his hands behind his head and looked elsewhere, acting like nothing was wrong

"Look we're not trying to rip you off here. All I'm asking for is a fair market price." Naofumi said, "is it personal? Is there maybe some reason you might have for hating me? For hating us?" Naofumi asked.

"Okay fine! I give up! Whatever you want! Just get these things off of me!" the trader shouted.

Naofumi removed him from his cape and held him up by his shirt.

"Sounds like we have a deal then huh?" Naofumi asked, "apply for me consistently and I'll even give you a small discount especially if you have the kid with you. Better than trying to fleece me right?" Naofumi asked.

"R-right! Consider it done sir! And as much as I'd like to refuse, the exchange for money and goods have nothing to do with any crimes you and said child may or may not have commited." he said giving Naofumi his copper coins.

"Wait, what do you mean crimes a child may or may not have commited?" Naofumi asked.

"W-well people have been saying a child with spiky hair and flashy clothes may or may not have assisted a certain hero for a crime he commited." the trader answered cowering a bit.

"Well then there's one more thing you're gonna do, you're gonna spread the word to the other merchants. Tell them that any other trader who decides to mess with me or the kid will get covered in bite marks." Naofumi said

"Don't you worry I'll tell everybody." the trader said.

"To a fruitful relationship." Naofumi said as he and Sora walked away while Sora looked back at the trader and waved goodbye.

While walking through the streets they stopped by a botanist's shop and examined it for a brief second before continuing to walk. They then stopped by a blacksmith's and dropped off the copper coins on his counter.

Later that night, Naofumi and Sora were on a hill trying to sleep with Sora using his jacket as a blanket. After falling asleep, Naofumi was woken up by Sora crying in his sleep and shaking, calling out Kairi's name which had him a little worried.

_This kid might have more problems than me. _Naofumi thought to himself going back to sleep.

The next day the two were walking through the forest when they found some familiar looking plants.

"Aren't these…?" Sora asked remembering the plants were the same ones they saw in that botanist's shop. Naofumi picked up one of the plants and absorbed it inside his shield, when he did he unlocked three new shields to use.

"New shields. So does that mean that by mastering abilities I get to keep them even after upgrading to another one?" Naofumi asked surprised while Sora looked confused.

"What does that mean?" Sora asked.

"It means when I use a new shield I get to keep the ability of the previous one I used when I use the new shield." Naofumi explained.

"Oh okay." Sora said understanding.

Naofumi held out his shield hand and said, "Leaf Shield, go!" and his original shield was replaced by another shield shaped like a leaf surprising both of them.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Sora said excitedly.

"It really is just like a game." Naofumi said in surprise, then he picked up some of the leaves and unlocked a new skill.

"I can improve the plant's quality?" Naofumi asked.

"Seriously?" Sora questioned.

They grabbed the rest of the plants and put them in Naofumi's satchel, then went on their way back to town. On their way Naofumi looked at Sora and asked, "hey, what was going on with you the other night?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"I heard you crying in your sleep and calling out your friend's name." Naofumi said making Sora look sad.

"Oh. I-it's nothing." Sora said as he walked ahead of him.

It was nighttime when they got back and they decided to visit the botanist's shop.

"Wow, this is really good stuff. Where'd you two find these?" the shopkeeper asked.

"In the forest outside the castle. Didn't you know?" Naofumi said.

"Sure, but I've never seen any of them in such high quality. I was certain it was much more average." the shopkeep said examining them then giving them their coins.

They decided to visit a bar to eat. Sora ate like a horse cause he was hungry for the past two days, while Naofumi barely ate any of his food.

"Hey why aren't you eating?" Sora said.

"I can't taste anything." Naofumi said.

"Is it because of the flavor? Cause I could make something that could knock your socks off-"

''No, I mean I literally can't taste anything." Naofumi said interrupting Sora.

"Oh." Sora said, putting down his fork, "why?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Naofumi said while Sora continued to eat his food.

Just then, three guys showed up behind both of them.

"Oh great shield hero, we'll join you and the kid's party if you want." the first guy said.

"Yeah that's right thank your lucky stars both of you." the second guy said, putting a hand on his shoulder which reminded him of when a certain red-headed girl he trusted did that and she betrayed him.

"Okay, but how about we go ahead and discuss the terms up front?" Naofumi said with cold eyes while Sora looked at the situation uneased.

The second guy laughed and said, "Sure thing!"

"Your pay will be entirely performance based. Do you know what that means?" Naofumi asked.

The first guy giggled and said, "nope not a clue!" making all three of them laugh while Sora got more tense by the minute looking back and forth between Naofumi and the the three guys.

"It means you'll be paid based on the loot we get on our quests, and since I'm the leader, I'll be keeping at least forty percent." Naofumi said making the three of them disgruntled.

"I'll split the rest among you guys at my discretion. If you do nothing of value then you can expect to be paid nothing." Naofumi said.

"What the hell?! That means if you get a wild hare up your ass you get to keep it for yourself!" the first guy said agitated.

"I promise to pay you if you do your job. Assuming you can." Naofumi said standing up.

"Well what about the kid? How much does he get?" the second guy asked.

Naofumi looked at Sora and said, "based on his performance, if he does better than you guys he gets more of the loot." Naofumi answered which made Sora surprised a little and the guys more disgruntled but they smiled.

After leaving the bar they walked down a street.

"Let's go get some new equipment boss." the second guy said.

"Buy your own equipment. I have nothing to gain from doing that for you." Naofumi said.

"What?" the second guy said.

"Forget the party crap and just hand over your money and the kid's too." the first thug said.

"Now see, if you had just said that to begin with you could've saved us a whole bunch of time." Naofumi said not turning his back to the goons while Sora summoned his Hero's Origin keyblade and stood at the ready.

"Yeah right, who knew it be so easy-" the second thug said holding out his hand.

Naofumi turned around quickly and used an orange balloon on the second thug's hand while the first one tried to stab him with a knife only for it to be blocked by Sora's counter shield, the impact of which, caused a fist to punch him in the face knocking the thug down.

"Shit!" one of the thugs said in fear as they all got up and ran away. After the dust settled, Sora dismissed the his weapon as he looked at Naofumi stepping on the orange balloon he used.

"Naofumi are you alright?" Sora said concerned.

"I have good defense but no offense ability. Without I can't defeat monsters or Heartless, and because of that I can't farm experience points. And since I can't farm I can't raise my offensive ability." Naofumi explained agitated, "I'm stuck in a loop!" he growled, "DAMN IT!" he shouted kicking the balloon past Sora's face.

"Whoa!" Sora said dodging. He looked at Naofumi in concern as Naofumi was panting.

"Well what about me?" Sora asked.

"What about you? I can't always rely on you to fight my battles. It's just like you said, if those heartless things show up again I don't have a chance even with my shield." Naofumi said.

"Looks like you two could use some help." someone said.

They turned around to find a man with a top hat, glasses, white gloves, a gentleman's mustache, and a suit grinning at them.

Naofumi turned around ready to walk away when the man said, "it's clear you don't have any. Even with the kid around." the man said, getting their attention, "I have exactly what you need." he said.

"If you're here to offer me party members I'll pass." Naofumi said.

"Party members? No no, what I'm offering you is a service i think you'll find far more convenient.

"And what would that be?" Naofumi asked intrigued

"Interested are we?" the man asked.

"Leave me alone." Naofumi said.

The man laughed, "you've got that look in your eyes that I just adore, you're every bit the man the rumours said you'd be, especially from the kid with spiky hair." the man said causing Sora to touch his hair.

"Seriously is it that spikey?" Sora asked.

"Rumours huh? So then you who I am? Who the kid is?" Naofumi asked.

"Of course I do brave shield hero sir and you too chosen hero of the keyblade." the man said shocking Sora.

"You know about the keyblade?" Sora asked.

"Of course. I know all about you young master Sora, but that's a story for another time." The man said, "If my offer interests you two, then follow me and we'll discuss it further." he said as he lead the way

Sora and Naofumi followed the man to a large tent

"Right this way." the man said entering with Naofumi and Sora behind him.

"What the hell?" Sora said perplexed by all the cages.

"So, what exactly are you offering us?" Naofumi asked, the man chuckled.

"Can't you tell by just looking?" The man said, "they're slaves my boy." he said.

"No way." Sora said.

"Yes way! I run a slave trading business!" the slave trader said holding out his arms to show them.

Sora took one look at those red eyes and it sent a chill down his spine.

"What makes you think I want to own slaves?" Naofumi asked.

"oh I don't know, the fact that they can neither lie nor betray their master" the man said making both Naofumi and Sora gasp.

"We keep all our slaves in line by placing them under the effects of a curse. A strong seal based curse that could take their very lives." he said.

"That's horrible." Sora said.

"But very effective, so what do you say?" the slave trader asked.

"Alright show me what you got." said Naofumi which made Sora surprised.

"I knew you had what it takes to be a most wonderful patron." the slave trader said walking them through what he had. While walking through, Sora felt a little perturbed seeing these none human creatures.

"Some of them don't look human." Naofumi said.

"I can assure you they still are technically." the slave trader said.

"What do you mean? We're still new to this world." Sora asked.

"The creatures that look mostly human but aren't, are referred to as demi-humans. They're mostly used as servants or for manual labor. Beastmen are Demi-humans whose appearance leans more toward the animal side, they're often used as bodyguards or gambled on as participants in death matches." the slave trader explained.

"I see, but they both fall under the same category?" Naofumi asked,

"Indeed, and since this country brackets it's human supremacy, and demi-humans are thought to be closer to monsters, life can be quite hard for them here. As such they're treated as slaves." the slave trader said.

"That's even more horrible. I can't imagine how some of them might feel." Sora said.

All of a sudden they both heard coughing and went to see where it was coming from. It led them to a cage where they found a sickly demi-human girl with raccoon ears, a long tail, and rags with a stoic and sick expression on her face chained up.

* * *

**Meanwhile in the Land of Departure**

Kairi was training with Aqua in the throne room of the castle. After Sora disappeared, she wanted to become more powerful for him when they found out where he was, so she decided to train under Aqua to master her skills with the keyblade and she felt she was getting better at it.

"Okay, I think that's enough for today." Aqua said dismissing Rainfell and Kairi dismissing Destiny's Embrace.

"Hey Aqua? Thanks for doing this for me." Kairi said.

"No problem." she said walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, "you don't have to push yourself so hard y'know." she continued.

"But I want to. Since the start of this, everyone's been fighting for me including Sora, but this time I'll fight for him. Just like how you fought for Terra." Kairi said making Aqua blush and smile.

"Okay, but just remember: true power doesn't come from just your weapons, but your heart as well. Because the heart is the most powerful thing out there." Aqua said.

Kairi put her hand on her chest and said, "thank you master." making Aqua smile.

At that moment Terra and Riku walked into the room. Aqua walked up to Terra and hugged him.

"You okay? Nothing broken? Nothing possessed?" she joked putting her hands on his face and examining him.

He chuckled and grabbed her hands, "I'm fine." he said kissing her on the head, "how was training?" he asked.

"It was good. My kid will probably get stronger than yours." she joked.

"Oh you wish." he said back making them both laugh

"Hey guys?" Riku said raising an eyebrow getting their attention.

They both blushed and Terra let go of her hands, ***clears throat* **"Anyways, we got good news." Terra said.

"What is it?" Aqua asked.

"I'll let him say it." Terra said, pointing to Riku. Riku looked at Kairi while she raised an eyebrow, "what is it?" Kairi asked

Riku smiled and said, "we found him." making Kairi's eyes widen and start to cry.

**Next chapter: The Slave Girl**

**(REDUX)**

**Author's note: I finally got this done! I've been wanting to do this for a while since no one else will and that agitates me because these mesh so well together. Hopefully I'll do this right, especially with Sora because the reason for that crying scene was to imply that he blames himself for what happens with Kairi at the end of Kh3 and I kind of want that to affect him until he reunites with Kairi. Another thing is that two of the chapters will focus on Kairi's adventures in Melromarc and her interactions with the three heroes. Until then please review and I'll see you guys next time, peace.**


	2. Raphtalia

**/An: I can't believe how quickly you guys are reviewing and loving this, it's amazing! I knew I made the right decision making this story because I knew you guys were waiting for someone to do this crossover and to be honest I was too, but nobody stepped up so I did.**

**Before we continue with the story let's address some of the reviews and the things you guys said:**

**First of all, yes Kairi will not go to Melromarc alone Riku will go with her, however I'm sorry KingdomWarrior125 but Donald and Goofy will not be going because I originally planned for Kairi to go but I didn't want her to go alone because of you guys so the I decided Riku should go too (please don't hate me.) also I don't want another shield guy in my story, one's good enough. Besides I want this story to have the Destiny trio go on their very first adventure (as keyblade wielders) together. But Donald and Goofy will show up, along with the king for a special reason.**

**Second, Sora and Naofumi will fight Motoyasu and there will be formchanges (maybe). Sora will start to win, but then he'll lose on account of a mysterious character showing up. A certain blackcoated figure.**

**Third, no Idea how I'm gonna do a She-Ra/My Hero crossover**

**Finally, keybladelight, I like your suggestions, but I haven't played Re:Mind yet. However I do have a plan for Yozora, just wait and see, and I love the idea of Fitoria knowing about the keyblade and that being a legend to it in their world with the previous four heroes. I'll give insight in this chapter on how the slave trader knows Sora. (the yozora thing wasn't a spoiler though I heard about the endings.)**

**Ps: the guest reviewer who complained about the setting, one thing: CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY!**

**Now that that's out of the way, onto Chapter 2!**

**(Music: Mysterious Tower theme)**

Riku and Terra were in Yen Sid's tower along with King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.

"Why'd you summon us here Master Yen Sid?" Riku asked.

"We may have ascertained Sora's location," he said, surprising Riku, "really?! Where is he?" he asked.

"Thanks to Terra, Aqua, and Ven, as well as everyone else in their search for Sora, we were able to find him by tracing his heart's connection. Similar to how we were able to find him, Donald, and Goofy in Scala Ad Caelum" Mickey said,

"the connection led us to a world where the world order doesn't exist." Yen Sid said once again, surprising Riku and now Terra, "Ironically enough, King Mickey visited this place once during training." he said.

"The only other time I visited was when the worlds were in danger on your first adventure when you and Sora fought Ansem Seeker of Darkness." Mickey said

"If this is true...then what do you mean master? When you said the world order doesn't exist?" Terra asked

"in this world, there are heroes who come from other worlds to fight against a great evil known as the waves of calamity. They came from the same world but they exist in separate realities." Yen sid explained

"What does that mean? And what are the waves of calamity?" Riku asked

"The heroes come from different versions of their home, meaning the world they are summoned from has the same name but there's a difference to the one each hero lives in." Yen Sid explained

"As for the waves, the waves are kinda like the heartless and are drawn to this world. Every so often this world is plagued by an onslaught of monsters, these are the waves, malicious beings hellbent on destroying the world and wreaking havoc." Mickey explained, "they destroy everything in their paths leaving nothing but destruction in their wake and millions of innocents massacred." he explained more.

"However, like I said, there are those who combat against those monsters. They are called the Four Cardinal Heroes and each one is bound to a different weapon much like how we are bound to our keyblades. The spear hero carries the spear, the sword hero carries the sword, the bow hero carries the bow, and finally the shield hero carries the shield. Only together could all four could fight against the waves of calamity and protect the world from chaos." Yen sid explained.

"But there was a time when they couldn't. Is that what you were going to say, master?" Terra asked, crossing his arms, Yen Sid nodded his head and summoned a book titled, "The Legend of the Key Hero."

**(Music: Case of the Foretellers)**

"Long ago in the Age of Fairytales when the worlds were one**, **there was an even greater threat to combat against in the world, the heartless. With the first keyblade war looming, the heartless descended upon the land, drawn to the darkness the world was festering with due to the waves.

The past heroes struggled to fight them and the world nearly fell to darkness, however, a forgotten hero guided their path and helped them destroy the darkness to protect their world." Yen Sid said, "for his efforts the world was saved from the heartless, but they still posed a threat." he said more

"After the first Keyblade War, the original four heroes' time had passed and so had the mysterious hero's time, when the world was covered in darkness and the light of kingdom hearts was lost. When the worlds were rebuilt, any knowledge of the keyblade was forgotten over time and became nothing more than a myth, henceforth, this book." Yen Sid explained, gesturing to the book in front of him.

.

"Thanks to you and Sora's efforts, as well as Donald and Goofy's in stopping Ansem on your first adventure, less heartless have been appearing. And now that Xehanort is gone we haven't had to worry about them as much, but this world is still plagued by the heartless. It seems they're taking orders from someone else and are using the waves to sow chaos and increase their numbers." Mickey said.

"But who could it be?" Terra asked, "we know not. But our main focus is finding Sora in this

world." Yen sid said

"Right! Then let's go find him." Goofy said with a determined look on his face, "yeah!" Donald said, equally determined and pumping his fist.

"Slow your roles there fellas. Getting to Sora is not an easy task." Mickey said, "indeed. I'm afraid that you two cannot go." said Yen Sid, "but the three of us together make a whole pint." Goofy said, "yeah! Sora's our friend too." Donald said.

"I appreciate both of your enthusiasm, but like Mickey said getting there is no easy task." Yen sid said, causing both of them to hang their heads in sadness, "it sounds simple, but tracing his heart this time is much different and requires something stronger."

"How do we get there master?" Riku asked, "To trace the connection of Sora's heart, this time it requires the power of two keyblade wielders who have a strong connection to him. The heart of his best friend and the heart of the one he loves so dear." Yen sid said

"Me and Kairi." Riku said, "yes. So far only you two can find him." Yen Sid said, "okay, let's go tell Kairi." Terra said to Riku who nodded his head, "Riku, you and Kairi meet me in Radiant Garden tomorrow so I can show you how to get there." Mickey said, "okay." Riku said smiling.

**(music ends)**

After that, they all left the tower to go find Sora while Yen Sid whispered, "May your heart be your guiding key."

**Back in Melromarc**

A black coated figure was sitting on a cliffside while a man in white robes and a unicorn mask stood beside him.

"Are you sure we can trust the three heroes' church?" the man in white asked, "no, no I don't. but they're our best bet in finding out what happened to the master and Ava." the black coat said, "but what about the princess and the king? Will they interfere with what you're trying to do?" the man in white asked again.

"Ira, they're colluding with them. All they care about is framing that shield hero guy, they don't care about what we're doing. Besides, I owe the princess a favor. And like I said she could care less about the shield hero, right now she has her eyes set on Sora" the black coat said

"The hero of light? He's here?!" Ira asked, amazed, "yup." the black coat said

Ira snapped out of his amazed trance and asked, "What favor do you owe the princess?"

"you really like asking questions don't you?" the black coat asked, "uh, well I-" Ira stammered "I'm just messing with you Ira." the black coat said interrupting his stuttering.

"Short story is, a while back when we were still gaining members the organization promised to help the king with a little problem in exchange for knowledge on where the box was, but when I came back as the last survivor and told him that the organization was destroyed by Sora, he was beyond pissed, however I did promise his daughter that I would take care of something Xehanort promised her by myself, on behalf of my fallen comrades that is." he explained

"So that's why the king turned against Sora so quickly when the princess accused him." Ira said, putting a hand under his chin.

"Exactly." the black coat said pointing his finger up, "in all honesty he hates the keyblade and the shield equally. No idea why though." he said.

Ira was about to ask why she only cared about Sora until the black coat interrupted him saying, "if you're gonna ask why she cares about Sora, don't. That's my secret." while standing up.

"Then, what did you promise her Luxu? " Ira asked. The black coated man named Luxu removed his hood revealing himself to be a man with an eyepatch and a scar on the side of his face. He stood up and turned around to look at Ira.

"To kill the hero of light, Sora." Luxu said while smiling surprising Ira

**Elsewhere **

Back with Naofumi and Sora, the duo had found a sickly demi-human girl in chains, "sirs over here." the slave trader said, gaining back their attention.

"I recommend this for high class gents such as you two." he said. They walked over to the cage he was at as he removed the cloth revealing a monstrous slave that grabbed the cage bars jumpscaring Sora.

"AAH! What the?!" Sora shouted as he hid behind Naofumi, "it's at level 75." the slave trader said, _that's almost twenty times my level, _Naofumi thought to himself, "how much do you want for it?" he asked, "well it's highly capable in battle and fairly rare, how does 15 gold pieces sound?" he asked the two.

"What?! We don't have 15 gold pieces!" Sora shouted, getting out from behind Naofumi

"showing us your most expensive slave knowing full well we can't afford it?" Naofumi asked

"indeed, you two are gonna become two of my best customers, I gotta nose for these things. So I gotta make sure you develop a keen eye if you catch my drift, good sirs." the trader explained.

"Well now since you've seen my best let me ask you a question, exactly what kind of slave are you in the market for?" he asked, "one that's cheap and obedient to work." Naofumi answered, "in other words a demi-human if I understand you right?" the slave trader asked'

"A demi-human?" Sora said, confused.

"These aren't much suited for battle or manual labor." he said, "doesn't matter if I need them in battle we'll train them." Naofumi said,

"That's an amusing response when you don't believe in people." the slave trader said,

"I believe in him, sort of." Naofumi said, earning a raised eyebrow from Sora.

"Still slaves aren't people, training one is the same as upgrading my shield." Naofumi said,

"But even though they aren't human, they shouldn't be treated like weapons. They have feelings don't they?" Sora said

"Sora, I need a fighter and I need them to be strong like you to help me get stronger. I'm not treating them like a weapon, I'm treating them like a fighter." Naofumi said,

"Ha ha you two got me there that's for sure." the slave trader said. They went back to the cage where the sickly demi-human was.

"These are the cheapest slaves I can offer you two. Other than the dead ones of course." he said, causing Sora to say, "uh.." a little disturbed.

"Raise your head." Naofumi said to the girl in the cage making both look at Naofumi confused

The girl coughed and raised her head, "that mangy half raccoon's sick as a dog and a couple of spoke's short of a cartwheel. I'm having a helluva time with her myself." the slave trader said.

The girl looked at them frightened and shook with fear, "you see her previous owner loved his torture." he said chuckling while Sora looked at her sad,

"That's horrible. Who could do that to a little girl?" Sora said, clenching his fist.

He looked into her eyes that were struck with fear, then he kneeled down at her cage right in front of her saying, "hi." while she continued to look at him scared and backed away a little bit.

"Hey hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." he said, reaching out his hand for her to take.

She was hesitant but moved closer then reached out for his hand and held it softly. Naofumi noticed this and was surprised by his actions, as well as the trader. Her face lit up and she looked at Sora in surprise at how soft and gentle his hands were giving her a sense of kindness from him, then she saw him smile at her making her feel..almost happy, she was going to smile too until she started coughing and retracted her hand, putting it over her mouth.

Sora was about to reach out for her again until the slave trader put a hand on his shoulder, "don't bother, she's not long for this world I suggest something else." he said, making Sora go wide-eyed.

"But I can't just let her die." Sora said in a sense of urgency.

"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do." the trader said, "now then-"

"I've decided." Naofumi said, cutting off the trader, "she'll do I'll take this one." he said with cold eyes. Sora gasped happily while the girl looked at Naofumi in fear.

**Later**

Naofumi cut his thumb and dropped his blood into a bowl of black liquid as Sora looked on with his hands on his hips, "Let's begin." the trader said.

The girl sat in the far corner scared while Sora looked at her concerned. The trader walked up to the girl and removed her shaky hands from her chest revealing her slave crest.

The trader took a paintbrush and painted a circle on her chest causing steam to come out of the mark making her groan in pain. Sora wanted to go over and make sure she was alright but Naofumi stopped him.

"What's with that?" Naofumi asked,

"Nothing to worry about. The pain dissipates soon." the trader said, "that slave crest engraved on her chest makes it impossible for her to defy you. Unfortunately it won't work for mister Sora here since he didn't sign." the trader explained.

Suddenly Naofumi saw a notification on his screen that placed her as his companion right under Sora, _set as a companion?_ he thought to himself confused, "there you go good sirs, she's all yours." the trader said.

"30 silvers right? Naofumi asked, putting the coins on his desk. The duo walked up to the coughing girl,

"There's one extra in here." the trader said,

"Are you serious?" Sora asked annoyed, looking at him deadpanned.

"That's your commission. You were gonna ring it out of us anyhow weren't you?" Naofumi asked,

"well you certainly know your stuff." the trader said.

"Now then, I guess we're supposed to know what your name is right?" Naofumi asked the half raccoon girl who was still coughing.

"Well? Tell me your name." he demanded, the girl stopped coughing then raised her head and covered her chest, "I said what's your name?" Naofumi asked,

"I'm called.. Raphtalia." she said in a weak voice.

"Raphtalia huh?" Naofumi said.

He reached down and grabbed her arm forcefully, "let's go." he said dragging her away,

"Hey! Wait up!" Sora said as they were walking away,

"Oh un momento shield hero." the trader said holding up one finger,

"What is it?" Naofumi asked, turning his head.

"I'd like to have a few words with mister Sora before you go." the trader said. Naofumi looked at Sora for a moment who looked back at him shrugging his shoulders,

"Fine. We'll be outside." Naofumi said as he dragged Raphtalia outside.

Sora turned around to the slave trader who chuckled and smiled at him, creeping him out a bit.

"You're probably still wondering how I know you right?" the trader asked, "well, yeah to be honest. I'm still not clear on it, so tell me everything." Sora said

**(music: KH3 scent of silence)**

"Firstly let's start with formalities, the name's Beloukas and I know much about you, chosen hero of the keyblade." he said,

"How do you know about me?" Sora asked.

"Well, a known associate of mine told me all about you and the Guardians of Light's battle with the Seekers of Darkness." Beloukas said while chuckling.

"They said you were going to show up one day alongside the four heroes and help with the fight." he said.

"What fight?" Sora asked

"Why the waves of catastrophe my boy! They're the reason the four heroes are here now, and why the heartless have returned." he said causing Sora to look confused.

"You mean...the heartless have been here before?" Sora asked, Beloukas nodded his head

"Long ago I'm afraid, they didn't start showing up again until you fought against a mister Ansem, was it?" he asked the question which made Sora nod his head.

"Well after his death they started slowing down and less have been seen. Until an old man and his posse came here with mister Ansem a proposition for the king." Beloukas said, causing Sora to gasp aloud.

"The organization." he whispered, "yes, they told me if I were to find you to tell them immediately, because they would love to meet you." Beloukas said, making Sora more intrigued.

"Who would? And who told you about all of this anyway?" Sora asked.

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to disclose my client's personal information, but they did say when the time comes, they'll be ready to meet you and the shield. However I can tell you that I learned some more things from a friend of yours I met about nearly ten to twelve years ago, almost mistook him for a demi-human." Beloukas explained

"Wait, did he have big ears and looked like a mouse?" Sora asked, "why yes, King Mickey I think his name was." Beloukas said.

"King Mickey was here?!" Sora asked, surprised. Beloukas nodded his head in confirmation.

"Though he had to run before we had the chance to talk but I was able to introduce him to the king and queen, the only other time I saw him was when the worlds were in danger with Ansem. That's when I was able to strike up a conversation with him. He's a very good conversationalist, even with that high voice of his." Beloukas said.

"Oh, well, that's nice." Sora said, putting his hands behind his head,

"So what now?" Sora asked

"Now I bid you farewell till' next time master Sora." Beloukas said.

"Alright, see ya." Sora said, waving as he was walking away.

**(music ends)**

"I look forward to your next visit, we're always open." Beloukas said, putting his hands behind his back.

As Sora was walking away he thought to himself, _heh heh. So they really did choose her. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it heh heh. _

Outside Sora met up with Naofumi and Raphtalia, "what took you so long?" Naofumi asked

"Uh...conversation ran a little long." Sora answered

"What did you guys talk about?" Naofumi asked, "uh..stuff." Sora said.

Naofumi looked at him suspiciously making Sora nervous, "Stuff I'll talk to you about later." Sora said nervously.

"Whatever. I'll worry about it later. We gotta get her to the blacksmith's." said Naofumi.

"Why?" Sora asked, "you'll see." Naofumi said, walking away while holding Raphtalia's arm. Sora then followed him as they made their way to the blacksmith's.

"Welcome." the blacksmith said, he then saw the customers and realized it was Naofumi, "oh it's you." he said, "well well what's with the kids?" he asked

"I'm actually sixteen, but it's nice to meet you, my name's Sora." Sora said.

"Nice to meet you." the blacksmith said, shaking his hand "but what's with her?" he asked.

Naofumi said nothing and put six silver coins on his counter, "give me a weapon she can use. And keep it under six silvers alright?" he said.

Raphtalia entered a dressing room and came out decked in new clothing they bought her, "took you long enough." Naofumi said,

"I'm sorry sir." Raphtalia said, "yeah right." he said back.

"Let's see you draw your knife." Naofumi said, confusing Raphtalia.

He opened his cape and revealed an orange balloon monster scaring her, "I want you to stab this thing." he ordered.

Her refusal to do so resulted in her slave crest activating shocking her, Sora ran over to her as she grasped her chest in pain.

"You're only hurting yourself by refusing." Naofumi said, causing Sora to grunt at him, "now do it!" he ordered,

Sora touched her head and said, "you can do this." giving her the courage to stand up, draw her knife and stab the monster but was pushed away by Naofumi.

"Too weak! Put some muscle into it!" Naofumi said.

"He's right, you've gotta try Raphtalia!" Sora said

"COME ON!" Naofumi shouted at her.

With one thrust of her knife, she killed the monster and it popped, the impact of which caused her to fall down, but earn some experience for killing the monster.

Naofumi was surprised to learn that he got some experience alongside her, "I got experience points too?" he asked himself,

"Probably because when you formed the pact you set her as a companion." the blacksmith explained.

"Oh now wait a minute don't tell me you didn't do that with the lady that was in here before?" he asked, causing Naofumi to say, "damn that woman."

"What woman?" Sora asked,

"A few days ago he was in a party with a red haired woman but it didn't turn out well." the blacksmith explained.

"Wait hold on, was her name Myne?" Sora asked Naofumi.

"Yeah why?" Naofumi asked,

***sigh* **"I know her." Sora said facepalming himself.

"What do you mean?" Naofumi asked.

"Well when I first got here I went to the castle to ask for help on how to get home to my friends, but then she started accusing me of being in league with you, even though now I am, and the other heroes and the king believed her and threw me out. No hesitation!" Sora said quickly, "that's when I ran into you." Sora then said to Naofumi

"That seems harsh." the blacksmith said to Sora, "it was." Sora said.

_I guess that explains a lot. _Naofumi thought to himself, but he couldn't worry about that so he turned his attention back to Raphtalia,

"Listen up you!" he said to Raphtalia who gasped, "from here on out I expect you to fight monsters for me with him, is that perfectly clear?" he asked, "Even though it wasn't much we paid for you, so you better pitch in and help us recoup the expense." he said.

"That seems kind of harsh dude." Sora said.

"You know what kid? You're not gonna die a meaningless death." the blacksmith said.

"Don't beat around the bush say what you really think." Naofumi said, turning to walk away, "come on! Off your butt let's move. You too Sora." Naofumi said.

"Right!" Sora said, "yes sir!" Raphtalia then said, both running after him.

"Oh boy, I don't know if the country's going to the dogs or if the kid's just getting corrupted. Then again that other kid might help quell his...hmm." the blacksmith said.

As they were walking Naofumi looked at his hand seeing they only had three silvers left

"All we have is three silvers." he said to himself with Sora hearing him,

Sora checked his pocket and saw his pouch that held all his Munny realizing he still had some left from his adventures. He looked inside his pouch and was amazed, shocked really to see all his munny had turned into 10 silver coins and 16 copper coins.

"Maybe money won't be a problem." Sora said, showing him his pouch which surprised Naofumi.

_This kid just keeps finding new ways to surprise me_. Naofumi thought to himself.

They stopped walking to notice some guy being really cruel to Demi-Human kids who were loading up a carriage. Sora was going to go over there and give that guy a piece of his mind but Naofumi stopped him by putting his hand on his shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking but there's nothing we can do about it. It's not our place to interfere." he said.

Sora reluctantly relented then they both heard Raphtalia's stomach growl,

"You want something to eat Raphtalia?" Sora asked crouching to her leve,

"No sir." she said, shaking her head.

"You can't fight on an empty stomach, let's get some lunch." Naofumi said while walking

"Lunch?" she asked, "yeah, come on." Sora said, holding out his hand.

She reached out and grabbed his hand and they started walking. While walking she felt that same feeling she had when she was in the cage, _his hands. They feel...so soft, so kind. _She thought to herself.

They arrived at an inn and while Naofumi and Sora went in, Raphtalia was reluctant because of the sign that read: _**we don't serve demi-humans**__. _

"Uh sir?" she asked, "now what?" Naofumi asked,

"This place…" she said

"Hurry up!" Naofumi shouted, interrupting her.

**(Music: Rest and Reflect FFXV)**

She looked back and forth at the sign and the inn, but reluctantly went in.

"Welcome to the inn!" a waiter said until he realized who it was, "ugh, the shield hero? And that spikey haired kid he's with?" the waiter said annoyed while many others started murmuring.

Sora, Naofumi, and Raphtalia managed to find a table and sit down, "can we get something to eat here?" Naofumi asked the waiter,

"Huh? yeah be right there." the waiter said looking away uneased. The waiter then made his way over to their table.

"Give us the cheapest lunch you got here for two and uh..she'll have whatever that kid over there's having." Naofumi said to a surprised Raphtalia.

"That'll be nine coppers." the waiter said,

"Here you go." Sora said, putting nine coppers on the table. The waiter took the money and walked off to get their food.

"I would've paid for the food Sora." Naofumi said,

"Well you paid for my food the last time so it's only right that I pay for you and Raphtalia." Sora said, smiling,

"Thanks." Naofumi said.

_This kid is different from everyone else. He can smile without a care in the world no matter what bad things happen to him, sometimes. And for some reason he looks out for others, even demi-humans. Maybe… _his thoughts were interrupted when Raphtalia asked, "why sir?"

"Why what? You don't want that?" he asked, causing her to shake her head.

"No sir. Why are you two getting it for me?" she asked, "I don't know cause you looked like you wanted to try it I guess." Naofumi said, causing Sora to elbow him.

"We got it because you were hungry." Sora said, making her gasp a little.

The waiter then came out with their food and Raphtalia marveled at how delicious her food was, so much so that it made stars appear in her eyes.

"Alright here's your food." the waiter said.

"Are you saving it for later?" Naofumi asked, "it's all for me?!" Raphtalia exclaimed.

"Of course. Dig in!" Sora said happily. She removed the tiny white flag from her food and looked at it,

"Go on, eat." Naofumi said.

With that, she ate her food and when she took her first bite, she couldn't stop eating it.

"Whoa, looks like someone's hungry." Sora said

She ate so much and so fast to a point where her food accidentally went down the wrong pipe, "drink this." Naofumi said, giving her a cup of water.

Raphtalia drank from the cup quickly then set it down, "how's the food?" Sora asked, she nodded her head while eating.

Sora and Naofumi decided to eat as well but as Naofumi ate, he still couldn't taste anything.

**(music ends)**

**(music: Blinded by Light FFXIII)**

Later, the gang decided to go out to the fields to train Raphtalia some more and she was getting better at it. While in the fields Heartless suddenly appeared out of nowhere and the gang got ready for a fight.

"W-what are those things sir?" Raphtalia asked, scared.

"Heartless! Raphtalia be careful!" Sora exclaimed as he got out the Hero's Origin keyblade to fight off the heartless while Naofumi stayed behind to protect Raphtalia from them.

A large body, some Soldier heartless, and shadows appeared. Sora managed to kill a few by dashing towards them with a quick slash, then uppercutting the Large Body launching it up in the air and attacking it with aerial sweep knocking it back to the ground. It then got angry and turned red, sliding on the ground trying to attack Sora but he blocked the attack by changing into Counter Shield causing a large fist to burst out and kill it.

"That's the same shield he used that one night when we almost got mugged." Naofumi said, analyzing Sora's attacks,

"Hey he has a shield just like you master." Raphtalia said amazed, "yeah I know." Naofumi said.

After that more heartless popped up so he switched to the shooting star keyblade to take them on. As he was fighting, Raphtalia looked on in awe of how Sora was fighting them and it gave her more courage to face the dark creatures.

She was going to run in and help him but Naofumi stopped her.

"Don't run in like a reckless fool, he's got this. Besides there's too many of them for you to take on by yourself." Naofumi said.

"Let's focus on you taking out one for now." Naofumi said. He kneeled down and pointed at a lone shadow heartless who wasn't engaging anyone at the moment.

"See that one right there? Take him out, but try not to let him see you so you can get the upper hand." Naofumi said to her. She nodded her head and walked slowly to the lone heartless.

She slowly started gaining speed and ran up to the heartless when she got close,

"HAAAH!" she shouted as she cut the monster down and gained some experience. Meanwhile Sora had taken care of the last of the heartless and saw Raphtalia take out one.

**(music ends)**

"Alright! Way to go Raphtalia!" Sora shouted to her. She smiled happily at him, until she noticed one last Soldier heartless sneaking up on him.

"Watch out!" she shouted, running up to him.

Sora was confused until he turned around and saw a heartless jump at him. He was about to dodge and pull out his keyblade but Raphtalia managed to strike it down in mid-air.

"Whoa! Nice job." Sora said relieved, "thank you sir." Raphtalia said.

"Uh Raphtalia.. do you have to call me sir?" Sora asked crouching down, "you know I'm not your master right?" he asked.

"I know, but you're working with my master so that makes you my master too even if you didn't make the pact." Raphtalia said.

"Well...from now on just call me Sora." he said.

"Okay...Sora." she said smiling, making him smile too.

**Later**

The sun was setting and the three of them were gathered around a campfire eating fish Raphtalia leveled up to three while Naofumi gained new four new shields, a Mush shield, a Green mush shield, and a Blue Mush shield.

"Blending ability huh?" he asked himself, "that's something that might come in handy." he said to himself. Then he looked and saw he also got another shield called the Heartless Shield and saw what it could do.

"Resistance to darkness?" he asked himself,

"it'll probably lessen the damage you take when you're attacked by enemies like the heartless." Sora said to him.

"That could also come in handy." Naofumi said,

"master, sir? And Sora?" Raphtalia said, getting their attention.

"Who are you two and what I mean is, who are you really?" she asked.

"I'm a hero, the Shield Hero. And he's supposed to be a keyblade wielder." Naofumi answered.

"Wait do you mean...the four cardinal heroes? And the keyblade?" she asked, "uh huh." he answered.

This made her think back to a time where her parents told her a story about the shield and how kind he was to the demi-humans and how desperately she wanted to meet him, but they also told of another hero.

**(flashback)**

**(music: Treasured Memories kh 1.5)**

"Wait you mean there's a fifth hero?" Raphtalia asked on her father's lap.

"Well technically he's not a hero, but he is a very special ancient warrior." her father said

"Oh yeah, the keybearer right?" Raphtalia asked.

"Right. Long ago it was foretold that he actually worked with the four cardinal heroes to save our world from catastrophe and he was kind to us demi-humans as well, so we're grateful to him and the shield hero." her father said.

"They did? Then I for sure want to meet them daddy!" she said happily.

"if you're a good girl, I'm sure someday you will." her mother said, making her laugh.

**(music ends)**

**(flashback ends)**

"You're really the shield hero? And you're really the keybearer Sora?" she asked to which Sora nodded his head making her gasp. She shook her head and turned towards Naofumi.

"Please sir, what do I call you?" she asked,

"Naofumi Iwatani." he said,

"Naofumi... Iwatani." Raphtalia repeated slowly to memorize.

Hearing what Raphtalia said made Sora realize something, "wait, how do you know about the keyblade Raphtalia?" Sora asked.

"Well my parents told me stories about the heroes and the keyblade... and I've always wanted to meet them. They told me about how the keybearers would protect the light and fight the darkness to keep us safe." she said.

"Amazing, so demi-humans know about the keyblade too huh?" Sora said.

She nodded her head but then started coughing again until Naofumi gave her something in a leaf cup, "Drink this." he said.

"It's a medicine that I blended, apparently it can cure light colds." he said

Raphtalia made a sound of unease when she saw it, "drink it." Naofumi said again.

She acquiesced and drank but then spat it out immediately because of the taste, "it's so bitter!" she said,

"Raphtalia, good medicine's supposed to taste bitter, just drink it!" Sora said, causing her to scream loudly for everyone to hear.

Later that night, Naofumi and Sora were sitting by the fire blending materials while Raphtalia slept. Naofumi had given his cape to Raphtalia as a blanket for her and Sora had his jacket off but kept it around his shoulders.

"Hey Sora." Naofumi said, getting Sora's attention

"Yeah?" Sora said, turning his head.

"You didn't tell me you had a shield." Naofumi said

"Oh yeah. It's one of my formchanges." Sora said.

"Formchanges?" Naofumi questioned,

"It's basically a keyblade's special ability that I can use in battle." Sora answered

"Can it only turn into a shield?" Naofumi asked

"Just this one. Like I said each keyblade I have has their own special ability and this one's is for defense and counter attacks. When I use the shield I can absorb an enemies attack and counter back at them with it." Sora explained.

"That's actually pretty cool." Naofumi said a little amazed at this fact while Sora just nodded his head.

As Sora was helping blend materials Naofumi looked at him and decided to ask him a question he wanted to ask a few days ago.

"Sora?" Naofumi said, getting his attention again. Sora looked at him and said, "yeah?" questioningly.

"How did you get here?" Naofumi asked.

Sora was surprised to hear him ask that, but he knew it was only a matter of time until he did, he just didn't expect it to be this early. He sighed then looked at the fire and saw Kairi's face in his head smiling at him making him sad and lower his head.

"It's kinda a long story." Sora said

"Just tell me." Naofumi said.

Sora sighed and said, "Okay before I got here I was trying to look for my friend Kairi."

"the one who gave you that charm?" Naofumi asked, "yeah." Sora answered.

"You see what happened was-" Sora was saying

He was then cut off by Raphtalia screaming, "NOOO!" and rising from her pillow which alerted the both of them.

"They're dead, they're dead!" she cried while grasping her hands in the air.

"What's wrong?" Naofumi asked, grabbing her hands and getting next to her.

"It's okay Raphtalia just calm down." Sora said while putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Everything's okay." Naofumi said, pulling her into a hug, "father!" she cried.

"No! My mother, my father, they're both gone!" Raphtalia shouted while crying.

"don't cry." Naofumi said while hugging her and stroking her hair, "it's alright…. It'll be alright." he said, still holding her.

While he held her Sora looked on and thought of something, "Raphtalia." he said, getting her attention as she kept crying.

"I want you to hold onto this." Sora said, pulling out Kairi's lucky charm. Raphtalia removed herself from the hug slightly and looked at the charm still sniffling.

"What *hic*..is it *hic* ?" she said through hiccups.

"It's a lucky charm my friend gave me. It got me through hard times because it gave me the strength to fight for her and my friends, because I knew that I would get back to her again and again." he explained, "Hold onto it tightly and all the bad dreams will go away. I promise." Sora said.

He held it out to her and she timidly took it with tears in her eyes. She examined the design and the texture then looked back at Sora as he smiled at her.

She sniffled and jumped on Sora hugging him tightly, "thank you Sora." she said tearfully.

Sora was caught off guard by this but held her and said, "you're welcome." she let go and looked at him while wiping her eyes but still sniffling..

"Now you have to promise me you won't let anything bad happen to it, okay? It really means a lot to me." Sora said.

She nodded her head and laid back down on her pillow to go back to sleep.

Afterwards Naofumi looked at Sora and asked, "how did you know that would work?"

"I..don't know." Sora said, "She just seemed so scared and it reminded me a little bit of how scared I was when I first faced the heartless, but then I thought about Kairi's lucky charm and how it allowed me to face all my fears head on. I thought if I gave it to her...Maybe she'll be able to face her fears too. When she's ready that is." Sora explained while putting his hand over his chest and smiling.

Naofumi looked at Sora and for the first time since what happened, subconsciously, he smiled at him which Sora noticed.

"Hey, you're smiling." Sora said, snapping him back to reality.

"Huh? I didn't realize that." Naofumi said, "look why don't you get some sleep 'kay? I'll keep watch." Naofumi said.

"Okay." Sora said. He removed his jacket from his shoulders and laid it on the ground near the campfire. As he got adjusted he slowly started to fall asleep while Naofumi kept watch over him and Raphtalia.

As Sora slept he dreamt about a scenario where he was much older and his cut short but still spiky, he was on the islands alongside an older Kairi who had her hair up in a ponytail. They were on the beach watching the sunset as a child was between them.

She had blue eyes like her mother and brown hair like her father that was just a little spikey. She started laughing as Sora picked her up and put her on his shoulders so she could get a better look at the ocean.

"It's beautiful isn't papa?" the child asked, "it is Mari. it really is." Sora said.

**The next day**

Sora and Naofumi were inside the herbalists shop as he was examining the herbs they brought him.

"Hmm, very impressive if I do say so myself." the herbalist said, "are you well versed in making medicine's sir hero?" he asked

"Actually yesterday was my first try." Naofumi said, "really?" the herbalist questioned.

"So we were wondering which is more profitable, selling herbs or medicine?" Sora asked.

"Due to the waves impact, and those dark creatures that have been spouting out everywhere, medicine's been flying off the shelves lately." the herbalist said, "so rather than herbs I'd pay more for your medicine." he said.

"I see." Naofumi said.

"In total this is worth four silvers." the herbalist said as Naofumi looked around the shop.

"Listen you wouldn't happen to have any tools you don't use?" Naofumi asked.

Outside Raphtalia was sitting on a barrel waiting for Sora and Naofumi while she watched some kids play ball.

"Raphtalia." Naofumi said to her as he and Sora rounded the corner with bags on their backs.

She wasn't paying attention as she fixated on those kids playing with the ball the sight of which made her ears perk up.

"Would you like a ball like that?" Sora asked. She gasped and jumped down from the barrel

"No I don't! I would never want a ball like that, not at all!" she said

However her tail gave her away as it would not stop wagging back and forth like a puppy. The two looked behind her and saw that it was wagging making them both think, _**Yeah right**__,_ at the same time.

Later Raphtalia was confused to see Naofumi and Sora give her a ball after buying it from some guy.

"You can play with it after we're done with work." Naofumi said while she smiled.

"Of course!" she said happily

It was sunset and the gang made their way to another inn to get a room. Sora rang the desk bell to get the innkeeper's attention.

"I'm coming!" he said, "oh! The shield hero's here?" he exclaimed.

"I'd like to rent a room. My companion tends to scream at night though, and my partner sometimes cries in his sleep while calling out someone's name." Naofumi said.

"I do not!" Sora said.

The innkeeper looked at him uneased until Naofumi slammed his hand on the counter.

"You will let us stay won't you?" Naofumi said threateningly while opening his cape to reveal an orange balloon.

"Yes of course! I'll prepare your room at once!" the innkeeper said frightened.

As he prepared their room, Naofumi looked at a piece of paper on the wall and started thinking to himself, _I have to find a way to survive before the next wave of catastrophe hits._

**(music: Lazy afternoons)**

A montage showcases our heroes going through the market and buying Raphtalia food, then later Naofumi gives her a haircut and Sora shows her what she looked like in the mirror while in the background Naofumi absorbed her cut hair on the floor into his shield.

After that they went to go eat and Sora used a napkin to wipe Raphtalia's cheek when she made a mess of herself. Later the gang were in a room and while Raphtalia slept Sora and Naofumi were blending materials at a table while watching her. The next morning they found out that she had accidentally wet the bed making them both give an expression while Raphtalia cried.

Raphtalia feared she'd be punished as Naofumi and Sora reached a hand out to her, but instead they just patted her head. Next they went to the herbalist's shop and gained more money, after they went to eat again and right after that they went to train in the forest where Raphtalia cut down a mush and a fluttering heartless.

"Okay I think we can go a little deeper into the forest now." Naofumi said

**(music ends)**

Suddenly, they heard a rustle in the bushes and out popped a bunny, "an enemy bunny?" Naofumi questioned.

"Aww he's cute." Sora said getting close.

The bunny then hopped ready to attack, making Sora's eyes widen until Naofumi got in front of him and blocked it, making Sora fall down.

"Bad bunny!" Sora exclaimed

"Kill it Raphtalia go on quickly!" Naofumi shouted

Raphtalia merley backed up frightened, "Raphtalia what's wrong you gotta kill it!" Sora said

"But I can't. It'll bleed if I stab it." she said frightened.

"Raphtalia!" Naofumi shouted

"I hate blood." she said, her refusal to kill the bunny caused her crest to activate.

"Listen up now and listen good." Naofumi said

"If you can't fight then I'm not gonna take care of you anymore you got me?" Naofumi said, making her gasp.

"Naofumi." Sora said in disbelief about what he was saying.

"There's a wave coming that could destroy everything and those heartless will be with them as well. I have to get as strong as possible before we're all wiped out! But defense is all I'm good for, I need someone to fight for me and I can't always rely on Sora. if you can't I'll find someone else." he said making her gasp

"Understand?!" he shouted

"Like the waves of catastrophe and the heartless?" Raphtalia said.

"I have too, that's my job and Sora's job is to defeat the heartless. That's why I need you, why we need you." Naofumi said.

"I understand." Raphtalia said as she picked up her knife

Naofumi saw she was ready and aimed the rabbit at her, "HAAAAH!" she shouted as she slit the bunny's gut killing him and causing blood to splatter on the three. Killing the bunny caused her level up from 3 to 4.

"Then I too have no choice..ha..master." she said while panting, "I'll fight for you, you and Sora. just don't...don't throw me away. She begged.

"Deal." Naofumi said as he examined the bunny, _This is reality, not a game. I want to live, so there's nothing to do but fight. _Naofumi thought to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Sora puking in the bush, "you uh doing okay there Sora?" he asked concerned.

"yeah..mm..I'm fine. Just so much blood, and it got on my clothes." Sora said with a green face.

"I'm sure you've seen worse than that." Naofumi said

"I have, just, not like this." Sora said as he continued puking while Naofumi and Raphtalia looked on concerned and disgusted.

**Later**

The group was back in the blacksmith's shop and Naofumi dropped a bag of money on the counter.

"What kind of weapon can I get for that?" Naofumi asked

"Well, the time has come to get the little miss a real sword then." the blacksmith said as he went to a crate holding swords, "One on the short side's a good place to start." he said, "here's a nice little item. A pre owned iron short sword." he said.

"Listen uh, with the equipment we have is there a village or town nearby we can travel to?" Naofumi asked.

"With all your stuff? The only place that comes to mind is a small village called Lute." the blacksmith said.

"Lute?" Sora questioned

"It's just a village a little ways from here, I'll mark it on your map." the blacksmith said.

Sora pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket and gave it to the blacksmith who was using a knife to mark the village.

"When did you get a map?" Naofumi asked

"Don't worry about it." Sora said

**Village of Lute **

The three made their way to the village thanks to the blacksmith's marking and were talking with some guy about the value of the bunny pelt they had.

"How much for this?" Sora asked a man whom they had given the bunny pelt to.

"I'd say...about 2 silvers give or take a copper." the man said

"Really?" Naofumi said in disappointment, "aww!" Sora whined.

"Hey, do you know of any spots nearby where you can earn a lot of money quick?" Naofumi asked

"Hmm, well now that you mention it the ore coming out of the mines outside the walls can fetch you a decent amount but…" the man paused.

"But what?" Naofumi and Sora said at the same time.

"What's the catch?" Naofumi asked

"Well ever since the first wave came and those dark creatures along with them it became home to a bunch of monsters and even more dark creatures. These days nobody even wants to go near that place." the man explained

"Monsters huh?" Naofumi said

"Nothing we probably can't handle." Sora said with hands behind his head.

"Heh, I don't know what our summoned heroes are doing but If you ask me it isn't much." the man said.

"Well that's disappointing." Sora said, "heroes are supposed to do their jobs, what're they doing?" Sora asked.

"I don't know, but I will give you fair warning about those monsters. They're not like the ones during the wave, they're worse." the man said.

"What do you mean?" Raphtalia asked.

"Word is that those creatures are beings of darkness and they steal people's hearts, like something out of a fairytale." the man said.

"Yeah we know. We ran into a couple of them before." Naofumi said.

"But what you didn't know, was that if they steal your heart you turn into one of them." the man said, surprising Naofumi and Raphtalia.

"That's horrible." Naofumi said.

"Yes, so if you really are going down to those mines, be careful." the man said.

"We will." Sora said

Later the three were at an abandoned shack near the entrance of the mine. Inside Naofumi unlocked a new shield called rope shield while Sora and Raphtalia stood outside.

"Well exclusive effects and skills." Naofumi said.

He held out his shield arm and his shield transformed into a shield looking like a rope.

"That's pretty boring. A rope shield?" he said and questioned.

"Alright. Air Strike Shield!" he shouted

Naofumi glowed green and in front of him appeared a green shield which surprised both him and Sora.

"Anything wrong sir?" Raphtalia asked

***clears throat* **"it's nothing! Let's go." Naofumi said.

As he walked out of the shack Sora and Raphtalia followed behind with Sora muttering, "yeah right." which he heard making Naofumi irritated and also go red in the face.

In the mineshaft Naofumi held a torch while Sora and Raphtalia both held pickaxes as they walked down the long dark corridor.

"If there really are monsters here as well as heartless, the moment things go south we run. And you're gonna have to keep up." Naofumi said.

"Okay." Raphtalia said

She looked at Naofumi for a second then looked at Sora then looked back at Naofumi.

"Uh excuse me?" she said

"What is it?" Naofumi asked

"I was just wondering about how I should address you and Sora." she said blushing a little.

"Call me whatever." Naofumi said

"And I told you you can call me Sora." Sora said

"Alright then." she said

She then noticed the light from the torch was fading and caught up to Naofumi and Sora. After they finally made it to the mines which glittered with ore and a waterfall on a nearby cliff.

"Looks like the place." Naofumi said

"It's beautiful and huge." Sora said

"Yeah." Raphtalia said

"Let's get to work." Naofumi said

Using a pickaxe Naofumi and Sora tried mining for ore while Naofumi used a pickaxe shield while Raphtalia watched.

"Okay." Naofumi said

"Let's do it to it." Sora said while holding his pickaxe

As the two began mining, Raphtalia noticed some tracks leading somewhere.

"Footprints?" she questioned

"Yes! I got one!" Sora shouted while holding a piece of ore.

"Nice job. This might not be so tough after all." Naofumi said holding ore as well

"Raphtalia, let's try a little further…" Naofumi paused once he saw Raphtalia's look of horror

"Raphtalia what's wrong?" Sora asked

His question was answered when out of the shadows from a cave emerged a two-headed dog monster which emanated a dark aura. Seeing this creature shook Raphtalia to her core because it looked like a similar creature that attacked and killed her parents when the first wave hit.

"NOOOOO!" she screamed in fear

**(music: Sinister Shadows KH2.5)**

When the beast rushed in to attack Naofumi grabbed Raphtalia and jumped into the water below with Sora behind them. They emerged shortly after with Naofumi using rope from his rope shield to grab onto a ledge holding Raphtalia while Sora held on by plunging his keyblade into the rock.

"Think you can make it?" he asked her.

"Dog, dog monster! It killed all the villagers, even my mother and father!" she cried

"During the first wave huh?" he said

_That's why she cries every night. _Sora thought to himself.

The beast jumped down close to where they were, but was unable to find them just as they had climbed up and found cover.

**(music ends)**

"Was that the same monster that killed your parents Raphtalia?" Sora asked

"No." she said

"Listen Raphtalia, you take that thing out here and now." Naofumi said

"Huh?" Raphtalia said confused

"I'm sorry?" Sora questioned

"If you fight and make me stronger, then the three of us will be able to fend off the waves of catastrophe and the heartless and make sure that tragedy never happens again." Naofumi said, "Face it, your parents aren't coming back but we can prevent other kids from going through what you experienced." he continued.

**(music: Vector to the heavens kh 1.5)**

"You can do it! And what we're capable of doing is giving you the skills to fight as best as you can!" he said as he dashed towards the beast with Sora following behind.

Naofumi managed to block the attack from one of the heads however the other head went to bite him until Sora got in the way and took the bite to his shoulder causing him to scream out in pain.

"Raphtalia, you gotta kill it! Grab your sword and kill this thing, do it now!" Naofumi shouted.

"I..I can't." she said

The second dog head bit Sora harder causing blood to spill and him grunt to in pain.

"Sora you okay?" Naofumi asked concerned

"I'm...mmh...fine!" Sora said in pain

"If we die, you'll die too!" Naofumi said

"Please no!" she said scared.

"Then hurry up and kill it! That's an order, do it now!" he ordered

This caused her crest to activate again, but as the traumatic memories came back she still found the will to grab her sword as she cried. Naofumi looked at her and saw she was struggling then looked at Sora who was still holding back one of the heads despite being in immense pain.

"Alright then, just forget it!" he said, causing the crest to deactivate, "if you can't fight then get the hell out of here!" he said

"But will you do master?" she asked

"I'll buy time while you escape!" he said

"W-what?" she questioned fearfully, "then that be just...just like my parents!" she said.

"Sora, go with her, I'll take care of the rest." Naofumi said

"N-no." Sora said

"You're gonna die! Get her out of here!" Naofumi shouted.

"No!" Sora shouted

"Go!" Naofumi shouted

"I WON'T LEAVE YOU!" Sora screamed startling the two, "I won't let you die! And I won't let Raphtalia die either! Not again." he said.

Saying this made him think back to the time when Xehanort struck down Kairi and he was helpless to stop him and that resulted in him getting banished from his world.

"Never again!" Sora said through gritted teeth and teary eyes, "AAAAH!" he screamed as he plunged his keyblade into the beast as the monster bit into him more causing more blood to spurt out while Raphtalia watched as he was protecting her and Naofumi.

"Raphtalia run!" Sora shouted.

"Sora I can't!" she shouted, "I can't do this!" she said.

She started flashbacking to all the good times the three of them had with buying her food and cutting her hair.

"No!" she said

Then she saw her parents walk away and eventually saw Naofumi do the same thing then Sora.

"Don't leave me!" she cried, "don't leave me please no!" she begged as she watched them walk away.

She pulled out Sora's lucky charm and looked at it then put it back in her pocket and readied her sword then ran up to the dog monster.

"NOOO!" she cried as she jumped and stabbed it in the head, releasing Naofumi and Sora.

**(music ends)**

The beast shook her off then turned its attention toward her when she fell to the ground.

"Air Strike Shield!" Naofumi shouted.

The monster hit its head against the shield blocking it from attacking her as Naofumi shouted, "now Raphtalia!"

She shouted as she stabbed the monster in the chest killing it once and for all, earning her and Naofumi experience .

"Nice job kid." Naofumi said to her while panting.

"Yeah, great job Raphtalia." Sora said while holding his bleeding shoulder.

She started crying while she ran over to the two, "Master Naofumi, Sora!" she cried coming in to hug them both.

"Aah careful, this wound still hurts like hell." Sora said to her

"Promise me you two won't ever die, don't leave me alone master please!" she begged.

_She's chosen my name. _Naofumi thought to himself

"You two attack while I defend, that way none of us will have to worry about dying." Naofumi said.

"Alright." she said

"We'll get out of here once I feed this monster to my shield." Naofumi said

"Okay, Master Naofumi." Raphtalia said

"Come on get up." Naofumi said

"A little longer." she said, causing Naofumi to sigh but made Sora smile.

As they were walking out of the cave Sora held his shoulder and started walking a lot slower than the two.

"Hey guys," he said, getting their attention, "I don't feel...so good." he said before collapsing to the ground.

"Sora?!" Naofumi said worriedly

"Sora!" Raphtalia exclaimed

"The wound must've been worse than I thought. Sora can you hear me? Sora?!" Naofumi said as his voice and Raphtalia's started fading out.

**Later **

Sora awoke on a bed without his jacket and shirt as well as his shoes and bandages all over his shoulder. He touched the bandages and felt a slight pain.

"Ow. what the hell?" he questioned

"Sora!" someone exclaimed

Sora looked where it came from only to find Raphtalia hugging him tightly while Naofumi watched.

"Raphtalia?" Sora said, hugging her back.

"I'm so glad you're okay." she said, removing herself from the hug.

"Yeah, glad you're alright. N-not that I was worried or anything." Naofumi lied while folding his arms.

"Are you kidding me, master? you wouldn't leave his side all day." she said.

"Raphatlia don't tell him that!" Naofumi said red faced as she laughed

"Wait wait, what happened?" Sora asked

"Well you sustained some serious injuries after our battle with that monster and you fell over when we exited the mines." Naofumi explained, "we were able to find a doctor here in Lute and he stitched you up and bandaged your shoulder. Thankfully the injury wasn't fatal and I used a medicine that I blended to alleviate the pain." he explained more.

"So how are you feeling?" Raphtalia asked.

Sora moved his arm around and surprisingly, the pain he felt earlier was gone.

"Better." he said smiling, "wait hold on, how long was I asleep?" he asked

"A day." Naofumi said

"A day?!" Sora exclaimed

"It was still a serious wound, you're lucky you didn't die." Naofumi said.

"And you stuck by me all day?" Sora asked.

Naofumi rubbed the back of his head nervously and looked away to avoid answering the question.

"Why did you?" Sora asked

***sigh* **"I wanted to know why you didn't want to leave the caves." Naofumi said.

"We were pretty curious to know you would risk our lives for us." Raphtalia said.

Sora sighed and stood up from his bed looking at the two, "I hope you like long stories." he said

**Destiny Islands**

**(music: Dearly Beloved KH3 Re:Mind ver)**

Riku walked along the beach of the destiny islands and saw Kairi was sitting by the paopu tree looking at the sunset. He walked along the bridge and made it to the tree and leaned against it next to her as he too started watching the sunset.

"Riku." she said looking over at him

"You're mind's made up?" he asked

"Yeah." she said looking back over the ocean, "I have to see him again, and tell him how I feel, because I never got the chance to. And I blame myself for waiting all this time, not taking the next step." she said with hands over her heart

"Don't blame yourself. Don't forget the knucklehead waited too long also." Riku said, "I'll pound for it when I see him again." he jokingly said, making her laugh.

"You never change." she said

"Nope, and neither does he." he said.

She jumped down from the tree and said, "let's do that thing you guys told me about."

"What thing?" Riku asked

"The swords in the air thing." she said

"Oh, right." he said

He summoned his keyblade and she summoned her's and they said, "all for one, and one for all!" as they crossed them.

**Rising of the Keyblade and Shield Hero**

**(music ends)**

**Next chapter: Wave of catastrophe**

**Author's note: this story took longer because I had to go back and forth to make sure that the formatting was correct because that's the main complaint people have with the first chapter is that the dialogue and actions were mixed together and people couldn't tell which was which. I honestly did not know I was doing that and it irritated me because I really want this story to be good.**

**But all in all I think I did much better and improved on this chapter, so I'll keep an eye out if I do something like this again. Thanks for the critiques guys it means a lot.**

**And as you can see Xigbar is working with the three heroes' church to find the master and Ava and you'll soon find out why Myne wants Sora dead. I'm gonna see if I can have Raphtalia see Sora as a big brother as well as Filo, you know based on the scene in the forest and everything else. **

**Next chapter's gonna be about the waves and the heartless invading, so until then please review and I'll see you guys later.**

**P.s. unrelated question, which Disney song do you think best fits Myne? Again *unrelated* ;)**


	3. Wave of Catastrophe

**An: the unrelated question was related to the story after all. Some characters are gonna get song sequences like Myne, but I'm still wondering what song I should use for her. I have ideas for the others but I'm still working on it. And those who'll be irritated by this choice please don't hate me for it. I'm trying to make the story interesting and besides, it is Disney.**

**And after playing Re:Mind I have an idea for our boy Yozora and it might just surprise you guys.**

**Now, onto the reviews:**

**Keybladelight I like the suggestions but I've already got a plan for where I want the story to go. Though I do like the New Seven Hearts idea with Filo and Melty.**

**Captain Imaginat thanks for the music suggestions. I think I'll use God Help The Outcasts when Raphtalia finds her childhood friends and finds out what happened to them. I unfortunately probably won't use Zero to Hero or Phoney King of England unless I can figure something out. Gaston will be for when Kairi and Riku make it to Melromarc but before they actually meet the heroes (and I'm using the 2017 ver) it's gonna be after the whole race thing with Naofumi and he's trying to drown his sorrows. The One Jump Ahead reprise will be after the fight with Motoyasu which will show Naofumi's turmoil after losing Raphtalia and possibly Sora.**

**Something there will be for a special chapter later in the story. If I were to use In Summer for Filo then I'd need to tweak the song just a tiny bit to match what she'd want to do and I'm using it after she turns into her human form. Colors of the wind will be when Melty reveals she's a royal and Naofumi almost judges her for it.**

**I know I used probably a lot but I'm still working through the story and I'm trying to find out how I want the songs to blend together with the events of the anime, and as shown I might have to tweak some of these songs to suit everyone better**

**To the reviewer known as L that's also a great explanation as to why Donald and Goofy can't go to Melromarc, at least not yet anyway. Also NO! MANGA! SPOILERS! WHATSOEVER! The anime hasn't adapted that part so please refrain from mentioning stuff that hasn't happened in the anime but has happened in the novel and manga. **

**That goes for every other reviewer as well! (sorry if I sounded angry with you guys just no spoilers until Season 2 and 3.)**

**And don't worry about the anti-rage form that'll be in the story you'll see when.**

**Onto chapter 3!**

In a nearby grassy field Raphtalia was running after a creature and a fluttering heartless as part of her training.

"Wait!" she shouted.

_It had been since our battle in the coal mine _Sora thought to himself while he and Naofumi sat on a rock watching Raphtalia chase after a monster.

Naofumi removed a needle stuck in his arm and sent it into his shield to make it into a new one.

_Naofumi's shield has gotten really powerful. It's learned new skills and abilities that might prove helpful in battle. He's learned so many I've lost count of them all. I wonder if he can use Goofy's skills too like when we first met. However we still have to be vigilant, we let our guard down this time. _Sora thought to himself while also thinking back to earlier.

**(flashback to a few hours ago)**

Sora and Naofumi stood side by side when all of a sudden there was a rustle in the bushes and out came a wild porcupine. Naofumi reacted quickly and pushed Sora out of the way and took the hit when the beast bashed into him loding one of it's needles into his arm.

**(end of flashback) **

While Naofumi who was watching Raphtalia chase after the porcupine and the Heartless, he decided to strike up a conversation.

"I still can't believe it." Naofumi said

"What?" Sora asked

"You're from a universe where Disney characters exist." Naofumi said almost in disbelief

"I'm still confused on that part. How do you know about my friends?" Sora asked

"Well where I'm from, your friends are very popular and belong to a company called Disney. They're basically cartoon characters who appeared in movies and Tv shows while also having their own merchandise as well."

"Huh, that's cool." Sora

"You took that pretty calmly." Naofumi said

"I tend not to worry about the little things, that's probably why Kairi keeps calling me a lazy bum." Sora joked

"Speaking of.." Naofumi started, "so you got here because this Xehanort killed your girlfriend-"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Sora exclaimed while blushing

"Uh huh, childhood friends don't end up becoming boyfriend and girlfriend." Naofumi said while smirking, making Sora blush more causing him to cover his face.

"Well...it's complicated. I mean I did say "I love you." to her. So not yet?" Sora questioned

Naofumi raised an eyebrow.

"Anyways after he supposedly killed her, you used this power of waking in order to save her, which resulted in you being banished from your world." Naofumi said

"That sounds about right." Sora said

"If you were banished, how come you ended up here?" Naofumi asked

"I don't know. I guess it's because my heart saw that this world was in danger and was drawn to the conflict.

"So it was fate." Naofumi said

"Well, I've defied fate before so maybe not, but either way I'm here now and I have to help protect this world from the heartless and the waves." Sora declared

"Sora, Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia shouted, interrupting their conversation

The porcupine and heartless came back to attack, but this time they were prepared, Naofumi extended his arm and shouted, "Shield Prison!" Trapping the porcupine in a ball of chains and metal as the heartless flew up to try and escape.

Raphtalia ran up and so did Sora as he leapt off the prison and killed the heartless and after Naofumi dispelled the ability Raphtalia jumped and did a downward slash on the monster killing it instantly and earning some experience.

_The wave is almost here. it's about time we upgraded our equipment. _Naofumi thought

"Hey guys!" Raphtalia shouted, getting their attention, "I did it!" she said happily while turning around to reveal the items she had gotten, giggling a little.

Raphtalia looked much older than what she last looked like a week ago, though she still wore the same clothes they bought her.

"Way to go Raphtalia!" Sora said as he high-fived her.

"You're getting stronger everyday and much older too." he said to which she replied saying, "mhmm."

Naofumi was confused by the last words Sora said and looked at Raphtalia with a raised eyebrow.

_What's he talking about? _Naofumi asked himself.

"Let's get back to Erhard so we can see if we can get you some new equipment,'' Sora said, the name in particular was that of the blacksmith.

_The kid read my mind _Naofumi thought to himself while smiling.

"Alright you two let's get going." Naofumi said.

"Right!" they both said.

* * *

**World: Keyblade Graveyard**

The trio walked off back to town while unbeknownst to them, they were being watched in a globe by three figures being none other than the foretellers.

"So this is the boy? The keyblade's chosen you spoke of Luxu?" the one in a leopard mask asked.

"Yep." the hooded man said while the girl walked forward to observe Sora

"Such a young boy, yet he has so much power." the snake mask woman said.

"I know right? Defied fate so many times it's almost impossible to keep count of it all." Luxu said.

"So is that why the princess wants him dead? Because he defied fate?" the girl asked.

"As if, she doesn't care about how he defied what fate had in store for him and his friends or what he did before he came here. All she cares about is the keyblade, she wants it for herself." he stated, shocking the two.

"She wants his keyblade, But why?" the man asked

"Because Gula, she wants the power for herself. As far as it stands, her and her dad, the so called, "king" don't really care about protecting the kingdom only themselves, well I suppose the king does, but y'know." Luxu said.

"But they and the church do know something about the master and Ava right?" Gula asked.

"That's what we're counting on, and if we manage to find your beloved then you can tell her how you feel." Luxu teased, making Gula blush under his mask

"It's not like that." he said as Luxu rubbed his head

"Just joking. either way even if they don't know something our plans are already in motion and there's no stopping." Luxu said as he began to walk off.

"Ira and Aced remain unconvinced though." Gula said.

"They think that a mere child couldn't be this powerful." Invi said

"Well if you guys want you can test him to see if he's worthy of the name, "hero of light" then be my guest. The first wave's coming up so that would be the best time to make your move. So, who's up first?" he asked pointing between the two

Invi and Gula looked at each other then back at Luxu.

"I'll go first." Invi stated

"Excellent! Then your chariot awaits." Luxu said as he opened a dark portal for her to walk through.

* * *

**Meanwhile at the blacksmith Erhard's**

**(Music: The afternoon streets kh3 ver)**

"Wow, I hardly recognize you!" Erhard said in surprise when he saw a much older Raphtalia.

"You've turned into a pretty little lady." he continued as Sora nodded while Naofumi looked at her in confusion.

"I haven't seen you guys in a while, what have you been up to?" he asked.

"I finally learned correct table manners from the innkeeper. I want to learn how to eat my food properly like master Naofumi and Sora do." Raphtalia said, "oh! And Sora has been teaching me some of his battle moves too so I've been more athletic in battle." she continued.

"Is that so huh? You've really grown up. You're nothing like the pipsqueak you used to be." he said, earning a giggle from Sora and causing Raphtalia's cheeks to puff up and blush in embarrassment while Naofumi continued looking at her in confusion.

"You think?" Naofumi asked.

"What are you talking about Naofumi? look at her she's practically my age right now." Sora said while gesturing to Raphtalia.

Naofumi looked back at Raphtalia then Sora and was still confused.

"Someone's hard to please aren't they?" Erhard said while rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm actually pretty surprised myself, this whole country's full of lolicons." Naofumi said this time, making Sora confused.

"Lolicons?" Sora asked.

"Don't worry about it." Naofumi said while waving his hand.

He thought back to earlier in the day when a food merchant gave Raphtalia and the gang food for free just for being cute.

'_I can understand finding little girls cute but geez'._ He thought.

Then another merchant decided to give a sandwich, which weirded out Naofumi but made Sora smile.

_You people take it too far. _He thought again.

"Okay you two listen, haven't you ever heard the stories on what demi-humans are like?" Erhard asked.

"Well no but-"

"Excuse me!" Raphtalia exclaimed, interrupting Sora, "can we forget about all that stuff? We're here to get new armor for Master Naofumi and Sora too!" she said.

"But what I'm wearing is fine." Sora said.

"Are you kidding?! You've been wearing the same clothes for the past week! We've been able to sew them up after the attack in the mines but you saw how they were after, they were in tatters you have to try something different if you're going to keep them at least." she stated.

"You have some recommendations don't you?" she asked Erhard.

"What are you talking about? We're here for your equipment." Naofumi said.

"I appreciate the thought Master Naofumi but it's time you decided to protect yourself first for once." she said while pointing at him.

"You just got hurt in the plains protecting Sora or did you forget that?" she asked.

"Of course I haven't forgotten, but you need a weapon as well-"

"Master Naofumi, you and Sora need to stop messing around with your lives," she said,

interrupting him.

**(music pauses)**

She then grabbed a sword from a it's sheath and held it sideways showing their reflections.

"Or you will die." she said.

Sora looked at Naofumi nervously then back at Raphtalia

"Boss, this sword seems really sharp." she said to the blacksmith.

**(resumes)**

"Yup that's magic iron, you feel like trying it out?" he asked

"What kind of discount can you give us?" she asked.

"Oh don't worry about that miss, anything for you." he said, causing her to giggle.

"Thank you so much! While we're at it could you show us some armor too?" she asked.

"Of course," he said.

Naofumi and Sora just watched from the sidelines.

'_She sure stands up for herself now, or maybe she's just rude'. _Naofumi thought.

"The most we can pay is around one hundred and eighty silvers." Raphtalia said.

"Well in that case," Erhard said.

He turned their attention to a full suit of armor.

"How about something like this?" he asked.

"It's not really my style actually." Naofumi said.

"I cannot imagine you wearing that, no offense." Sora said

"Um, it'll take away all of master Naofumi's individuality. Same for Sora if he had armor." Raphtalia said.

"No problem. I can whip up something special that's made to order for the both of you." Erhard said.

"Made special?!" Raphtalia exclaimed.

"Yup. If you don't mind me using any materials I've got on hand I can finish by tomorrow, as for Sora I'll just need a sketch on the clothes he's wearing." he said.

Raphtalia ran up to him and grabbed his hand.

"Will do!" Raphtalia said

Sora looked and pulled at his clothes thinking, '_maybe she's right'_

**Later at the inn**

**(music: Rest and Relax FFXV)**

"Wasn't it nice of him to give us a discount on the sword?" Raphtalia asked

"Uh huh." Naofumi said

"He was so sweet to help us like that, don't you think?" she asked.

"I'm not convinced." Naofumi said.

"Of course you're not." Sora muttered.

"What?" Naofumi asked

"Nothing!" Sora said quickly.

Just then they heard a stomach rumble and it meant one thing.

"Th-that wasn't me I swear it!" Raphtalia said.

"That was me." Naofumi said.

"Are you ready to order?" a waiter asked

"I'll have the cheapest lunch set that you've got for two and she's gonna have the children's lunch set." Naofumi said.

"Master Naofumi I'm not a kid anymore and that's the last I wanna hear of it!" she said as she slammed her hands onto the table, "So I'll get the cheapest lunch set too and make it quick!" she demanded

"R-right away." the waiter said nervously.

"You really don't need to force yourself to act grown up." Naofumi said, causing her to blush.

"Look it's fine if she wants to eat like us Naofumi she doesn't have to force herself."

"I-I'm not forcing anything!" she exclaimed.

* * *

**The next day**

With the next day, came excitement for the gang as Sora and Naofumi finally got their new attire.

"Doesn't this make me look like a typical villain?" Naofumi asked.

***gasp* **"so cool you look amazing!" Raphtalia said happily with stars in her eyes.

"I call it barbarian armor." Erhard said, "you rock kid! You look like a real bandit." he continued.

The armor he had was an upgrade from the one he had before. His cape now had a wool lining around the collar and connected by a silver emblem. He had on a metal chest plate with his leather vest underneath. He had on fingerless gloves tied on by leather armguards with a fur lining on the wrists. As for the bottoms, he kept his green pants but now they had leather wool paddings on each side and he had knee-high boots with the flaps turned down.

Truly in his own words, he did look like a barbarian. (And this is the closest I'm gonna get to writing his appearance so don't get angry if I messed something up.)

"I'm supposed to be a hero y'know." Naofumi said while examining his new attire, "well you did make it for me, be a shame not to wear it." he continued.

"Hey, where's Sora? I want to see him in his clothes too." Raphtalia said.

"Right here." he said, causing them to turn their attention to the right, "Sorry, I was still trying to get it on." Sora said.

Raphtalia covered her mouth and she blushed with more stars appearing in her eyes as she examined Sora in his new outfit.

The shoes he wore were shorter looking like sneakers and his red and black jacket was now sleeveless showing off his small muscles and his black V-neck t-shirt; The back of the jacket had a heart symbol and the gray pockets were checkered gray and white. He wore black fingerless gloves underneath his gray gauntlets that now had a white x on the silver circle plate, and finally his shorts had metal Platings added on the knees.

"Wow! You look so much better!" Raphtalia exclaimed

"Yeah you do, you're not wearing those clown shoes anymore." Naofumi admitted while smiling.

"They're not clown shoes! It was fashion style for me!" Sora exclaimed while flushing slightly.

"Per your request I tried sticking to the original design while also adding something more to it. For instance, as you've noticed I gave you some chainmail armor and metal platings to give you more durability around your body and legs, and since you said the clothes had special powers I had an old friend add something to it along with said powers." Erhard said.

"What is it that you added?" Sora asked

"Now that, you're gonna have to find out for yourself, because it's a surprise" Erhard said.

"Wow that's so cool! I can't wait to see what you'll do Sora." Raphtalia exclaimed as her tail wagged back and forth.

"Me neither Raphtalia. This is gonna be epic!" Sora said.

Just then they heard a horse neighing and decided to go investigate.

They watched from the alleyway and found an entire crowd surrounding a group of knights walking into the town. What they noticed was the worried and nervous expression on people's faces as they rode in.

"It's clear that everyone in town is on edge now, especially with those dark creatures popping up." Raphtalia said

"Of course. The wave's nearly here and alongside them are heartless; if only I knew where the damn thing's gonna begin, I could come up with a plan." Naofumi said

"I'm sure we'll figure out something Naofumi. I can't just let the heartless and waves hurt people but you're right, how are we supposed to find out where the wave and heartless are gonna hit?" Sora said.

"I can't believe it, you mean no one's told you two about the clock?" Erhard questioned in surprise.

"The...clock?" Sora asked while tilting his head

"You know that church you can see in the town square? There's a big clock inside of it." Erhard said

"When the last grain of sand inside it falls, the heroes and their parties will be sent to wherever the wave begins. Least that's what I hear." Erhard said.

"That's interesting, let's go check it out guys." Naofumi said, walking away with the two behind him.

"That's again for your help!" Raphtalia said happily waving at him

"Yeah." Sora said

Before they walked away, Erhard said to them, "May your hearts be your guiding key." while touching his chest.

This caught Sora by surprise and he turned around.

"What did you say?" Sora asked

"May your heart be your guiding key. It's something my friend Mickey said once, now I say it." he explained

"You know the king?!" Sora explained.

"Yeah, he came here a while back and he and I became good friends. The only other time I saw it wasn't for long because he said he had business to take care of." Erhard said

"Wow." Sora said, surprised.

"Last time he was here he talked a lot about you and how you were gonna help save the worlds, like the four heroes." Erhard said

"So you knew who Sora was the entire time?" Raphtalia asked

"Yep. From the second we met." he said

"That's..pretty interesting." Naofumi said

"I've actually been wanting to tell you something important after we met, and I think it's important that you two hear this as well. The person who told me said that it's of dire urgency." Erhard said.

"What is it?" Naofumi said.

"Dark forces are at hand. You may have beaten Xehanort Sora but they said that there's an even greater threat." Erhard said

"Threats like what?" Sora asked

"Well for one there's the heartless and the waves. Since the heartless have reappeared the waves are gonna be more dangerous, then there are rumours of mysterious people in animal masks roaming about with someone in a black coat." Erhard said, shocking Sora.

"A black coat?! But that's impossible!" Sora exclaimed

"I thought Sora defeated those guys!" Raphtalia said

"Well it is just a rumor so who knows if they were really telling the truth about the whole thing but either way I suggest you guys be careful when fighting the waves." he said

"Right well we can take care of ourselves so you don't have to worry about us." Naofumi said

"Just tryin' to help." Erhead said while crossing his arms.

"Well, thanks for the advice. We'll see you." Sora said walking away again

"Thanks again!" Raphtalia said waving back at him

* * *

**Location: Three heroes church**

Later, they arrived at the church he had mentioned. The church had three towers and on top of each of them had a weapon from each of the heroes; on the left was a sword, the middle was the spear, and the right was the bow.

Once inside they were led by one of the church's followers who had the emblem for the church around her neck. She led them down a hallway until they reached an open area.

"Come this way." she said

As they went in stairs formed leading to a large hourglass making all three of them exclaim in shock.

"Wow! It looks so cool!" Sora said

"Could this be the dragon hourglass the king was talking about?" Naofumi questioned.

When he stepped closer toward it a green light shot out from his shield and shot towards the glass. Meanwhile Sora's keyblade was suddenly summoned and it shot out a white beam towards the glass as well causing both of them to collide as the hourglass lit up in a mix of white and green.

Suddenly Naoufumi and Sora could see a countdown timer.

"Naofumi you're seeing this too right?" Sora asked

"Yeah, it's counting down to the wave." Naofumi said

"Is that naofumi I see and whaddya know his spiky-haired sidekick!" said a familiar voice

They turned to the source of the voice revealing it to be none other than Motoyasu and his party. He had changed since last Naofumi and Sora saw him for now he was decked out in a red cape and clothing as well shoulder plates and leggings as well as metal gauntlets.

"Motoyasu?" Sora questioned

"Don't tell me you're still fighting with that flimsy equipment are you? Though I didn't expect to see you here Sora." Motoyasu said

Just then Raphtalia walked and asked them both a question, "do you know who these people are Master Naofumi and you too Sora?" causing Naofumi to scoff and his eyes to become shadowed as he walked down the stairs not batting an eye to any of them.

"Naofumi?" Sora said a little concerned

"Hey! Sir Motoyasu is talking to you Naofumi!" Myne said to him causing him to stop especially after seeing Itsuki and Ren as well making him even more mad.

"~hi there~" Motoyasu said flirtatiously, "I'm Motoyasu Kidamura the spear hero nice to meet ya." he said, even more flirtatious.

"You're a hero?" Raphtalia questioned nervously

"Wow you're cute." he said creepily

"Okay time to move." Sora said pushing Raphtalia away from him and toward Naofumi

"Why are you praising a demi-human Motoyasu?" Myne questioned

"A girl as pretty as her shouldn't have to wield a sword, allow me to protect you from now on." Motoyasu said while holding his hand out to her.

Naofumi became agitated while Sora was just creeped out by his advances toward Raphtalia.

"I'm sorry, it's my sworn duty to fight side by side with Master Naofumi and Sora." she said

"Are you kidding? That's insane, if you stay with these two you'll be in danger-" he said until Naofumi got into his face angrily.

"Tell me I'm not right or don't you have the guts?" Motoyasu mocked as Naofumi gritted his teeth in anger

"That's enough!" Sora shouted getting all of their attention

"Listen shouldn't you guys be working together to fight the waves? Why do you have to antagonize him for something he didn't do?" Sora asked

"Because he did do it and you're just as guilty, don't try and deny what you did." Ren said, making Raphtalia confused.

"Is that what you guys believe, or is that what she made you think?" Sora said

"How dare you?! You will show me respect brat!" Myne said pointing at him angrily.

"Why should he?" Naofumi said turning towards her and crossing his arms.

"Motoyasu, Itsuki, Ren, when I first came here you thought with your heads what kind of person I was, what kind of person Naofumi was. Now I'm asking you guys to see what your heart tells you, because I know you're just believing what you want to believe and not actually seeing the truth." Sora said, placing his hand over his chest.

"Forget it Sora." Naofumi said as he grabbed Raphtalia's arm, "we're outta here." he said

"Aw come on don't tell me you haven't heard any of those rumors going around about them?" Motoyasu said, making Naofumi said.

"Rumours?" Raphtalia questioned as Naofumi gritted his teeth.

"Don't worry about it Raphtalia." Sora said.

Naofumi walked away dragging Raphtalia with him with Sora trailing behind.

"See you both when the waves hit." Itsuki said

"Just stay out of our way." Ren said

They continued walking down the hallway in silence before Sora broke the ice.

"Listen Naofumi, they just need some time to see the real you, don't let what they said get under your skin. I know you're a good person." Sora said

"How? How do you know that?" Naofumi questioned letting go of Raphtalia and turning towards him while gripping his fists.

"I'm a pretty good judge of character." Sora said, putting his hands behind his head, "when I make a friend, we're friends for life, and you're my friend Naofumi no matter what anyone says." he continued.

Hearing what he said made him calm down a little and unclench his hands, "thanks Sora, I appreciate it." he said.

"You're welcome." Sora said

* * *

**Later**

In an inn they were resting at, Naoufumi was blending herbs while Sora and Raphtalia sat on the bed with Sora's jacket on one of the chairs.

"Uh may I…" she questioned

"What?" Naofumi said

"Did something happen between you, Sora, and the other heroes?" she asked

"That's none of your business," he said.

She then turned to Sora as if she were asking him

"I don't think it's my place to tell you." he said while rubbing the back of his head

She turned back in Naofumi's direction and looked down

"Master Naofumi, I'll…" she paused in hesitation, "I'll turn in now. Goodnight, you too Sora." she said.

"Goodnight Raphtalia." Sora said.

After that it was just Sora and Naofumi awake, "hey, do you need help with…?"

"Got it, just get some rest." Naofumi said

"K, just so you know, you don't have to bear this pain alone, we're here for you, we just gotta show them who you are." Sora said.

"It's useless Sora, besides even if we tell the truth no one will believe us." Naofumi said.

"Then we just keep doing what we do best, protect the world from the waves just like I did back home with the heartless." Sora said

"Do you ever miss home? Your islands?" Naofumi asked

Sora looked down as an image of Kairi appeared in his head, "everyday." he said quietly, "but I'm here now and since the heartless are too it's my job to protect this world from danger." he continued.

"Well from what you told us about your adventures, you might do better than the three stooges." Naofumi said, making Sora laugh.

"And on that note, I'm gonna get some rest." Sora said.

"K, rest easy." Naofumi said.

Sora then tucked himself into the other side of the bed next to Raphtalia and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**The next day: The day of the Wave **

As the sun shined over the kingdom of Melromarc, many people were standing around the town square preparing for the inevitable wave to hit including Sora, Naofumi, and Raphtalia.

"Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked

"What is it?" Naofumi asked as she walked closer

"Well I just..wanna say..I'm truly grateful, and honored to have met you and Sora." she said, "you both gave me medicines and cured my illness, allowed me to have warm meals, and most importantly you both taught me how to live." she continued, thinking back to the mines battle and how she overcame her fear.

"and you both gave me a reason to survive and fight, to fight the waves and the heartless." she said as the sun rose fully over the kingdom.

"I swear to be your sword forever!" she declared, "wherever you both go I'll be there with you, because that's what my heart's telling me." she said, placing her hand over her heart.

"Oh yeah?" Naofumi questioned

"Raphtalia you make it sound like we're gonna die." Sora said

She merely shook her head saying, "no, this is my vow to both of you, that I'll fight beside you forever."

Hearing this Sora walked towards her and placed a hand on her head

"Thank you Raphtalia." he said as he smiled making her smile too

As the timer counted down from 17 you could see the other heroes and their parties getting ready for the battle at hand being cheered and adored by the people. As the last grain of sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass and bell toll rang out and the sky turned blood red.

Sora, Naofumi and Raphtalia looked up in shock as all three were being covered in a yellow glow until they were suddenly transported to a forest area.

"What the hell?" Sora exclaimed

"Where are we?" Naofumi questioned

They both heard Raphtalia gasp and they looked up at what she was seeing, giant multi colored portals in the sky

"There it is!" Naofumi said

"The wave of catastrophe." Sora said

Pouring from the portals were monsters but alongside the portals were corridors of darkness that started spewing out heartless.

The three watched in horror on what they were seeing but suddenly snapped out of it when they heard footsteps down below. They looked down and saw Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki making their way to the waves.

"Those guys! Let's move you two!" Naofumi said

"Right!" Sora said, summoning his keyblade.

"Look over there!" Raphtalia exclaimed pointing to Lute

"The village of Lute." Sora said in horror

"Did they get everyone evacuated?" Naofumi questioned

Suddenly they heard a noise pop and saw a flare being fired

"A flare?" Naofumi questioned, "do they think it's enough to let the knights know where they are?" he continued

"I don't think it matters. The castle's close but by the time reinforcements get there it'll be too late." Sora said

Hearing this Naofumi made a decision, "We're going! To Lute village" he shouted

"Let's go!" Sora said

"Right!" Raphtalia said

Meanwhile from the area they were just at, Invi watched the group closely as they were making their way to the village

"Alright, time to test your mettle." she said as she brandished her keyblade.

* * *

**Lute Village**

The village was under attack by wave monsters and heartless. An armored knight heartless turned its attention to a civilian on the ground as they cowered in fear and when it tried to attack, it's blade met Naofumi's shield as Sora came by and cut it down.

"Sir, are you alright?" Raphtalia asked running up next to Sora

He gave a weak and scared nod as Sora gave him a heal potion

"Go on Raphtalia, it's better you help the villagers evacuate! Sora, go with her for back up." Naofumi said

"What about you?" Raphtalia asked.

"Don't worry, I'll lure them out of here." Naofumi said.

"By yourself?! That's suicide! Let me help!" Sora exclaimed

"No, I need to distract the heartless and zombies long enough for both of you to get everyone out of here, now go!" Naofumi ordered.

Elsewhere, the villagers were being cornered by the heartless and monsters as they ready any farming tool they had to prepare for a defense even though they were scared senseless. Just then they noticed Naofumi charging through the monsters and heartless with no fear.

"Look, it's one of the heroes!" someone said.

"The shield hero is here! He'll save us!" another said.

Naofumi ran faster until he punched one of the Neoshadow heartless in the face, stunning it.

"Listen up everybody, I'll keep the monsters busy so all of you get out while you get out can!" he shouted while running away causing the heartless and zombies to run after him

The villagers lowered their weapons in relief as they were now safe while nearby another villager was on the ground cowering as a Zombie was about to attack him until Naofumi yelled, "AIR STRIKE SHIELD!" protecting him from the blow as a giant green shield appeared and blocked the blunt of the blow.

"Run, get outta here!" he shouted as he kept running.

He then heard the cry of a mother and her child as a swarm of wasps and fluttering heartless were ready to attack until he called out, "SHIELD PRISON!" protecting the two from danger.

He kept running and cursed to himself as the monsters and heartless kept giving chase, however as he was running he bumped into a large body heartless who knocked him to the ground. He looked and saw it was ready to attack until someone called out, "Reflect!" making a white dome appear around him and pushing the large body back killing it.

Naofumi looked up and saw Sora standing there with his keyblade at the ready.

"Sora? I thought I told you to help evacuate!" Naofumi said

Sora turned to him and said, "I wasn't gonna leave you to do this by yourself."

This caused Naofumi to smile at his remark, "you're a stubborn piece of work you know that?"

"Takes one to know one." Sora said.

Their attention then immediately shifted back to the heartless and zombies; they both nodded at each and ran into a destroyed house with Naofumi sliding inside and Sora jumping in.

The mobs backed up from the flames until they both burst out of the fire with Naofumi holding a torch and Sora holding a ball of flame in his hand.

"This way you stupid zombies!" Naofumi shouted

"Come and get us!" Sora shouted

"What's the matter, afraid of a little flame, or that you can't take the pace?!" Naofumi taunted.

They then both started running as the mobs followed behind slowly.

_Why am I risking my life for total strangers? _Naofumi asked himself in his head as Sora jumped in front and threw flames at some flutterings.

_I'm such a fool. That, or maybe the kid's rubbing off on me _he said

Meanwhile Raphtalia was helping as many villagers as she could evacuate Lute.

"Everyone, come this way! Hurry!" she said as she was leading people to the mines

She and the others looked towards the village in worry, especially Raphtalia

_Please come back safe, both of you, _she thought to herself.

Back in the Lute Sora and Naofumi were gasping for air as they stopped running from the mobs and heartless.

"There's..hah..too many of them." Sora said

"You're right, this isn't gonna work. We've gotta minimize the damage to the village." Naofumi said.

"I've got an Idea, I'll clear a path while you make your way to that watchtower." Sora said

"How're you gonna do that?" Naofumi asked

Sora said nothing and ran towards the enemies as Naofumi looked on in shock

"WAIT SORA!" he shouted.

Sora then jumped into the air and transformed into his kh2 clothes as he performed his shotlock Ragnarok which destroyed many of the enemies in the area leaving Naofumi shocked.

"There's your window! Go now!" Sora shouted

Naofumi snapped out of his trance and ran over to the tower until he was intercepted by a zombie causing him to call out his air strike shield to jump over him and keep running. As he climbed the tower he saw Sora helping a bunch of villagers face off against the mobs and Heartless that were attacking them.

"Stay behind me." Sora said as the enemies came closer

Just then they heard a bell ringing which caused them all to turn their attention to the watchtower. In the tower Naofumi looked over and saw the heartless and mobs were still coming.

_Damn, it's showing no sign of slowing down. What are those guys doing?! "_What're they wai-" his conversation with himself was interrupted when the tower started shaking.

He looked down and to his horror he saw multiple mobs and heartless climbing the tower. Thinking quickly Naofumi pulled out the oil from the lantern and poured it onto them then poured the rest on the tower; he lit the flames and as it quickly spread he jumped off and used his rope to get to safety crashing into a building.

"Naofumi!" Sora shouted as he ran over to check on him.

He made his way out of the rubble and Sora cast heal on him just in case he had any injuries; the two of them then looked at the flaming tower as it crashed to the ground and saw many hearts flying into the air.

Back at the mines, Raphtalia heard the crash and saw flames coming from the village.

"Is that it?" Naofumi questioned.

"I think so." Sora answered

"Sir heroes!" a villager shouted as he ran over to them

"What are you doing?! You have to run!" Sora exclaimed

"We all changed our minds and came back after seeing how courageously you two were fighting; Lute is our home, it's all we have we can't just run away and abandon it so we decided we'll fight with both of you." the villager said

"Good choice. Help us keep the enemy pin down until we can finish the evacuation." Naofumi said.

Just then a Dark inferno heartless showed up in front of the three and was about to slam it's sword into them until Naofumi blocked the attack sending them backwards into a tree. As it walked towards them Sora got in it's way and brandished his kingdom key keyblade.

"I've beaten you once, and I'll do it again!" he shouted

The dark inferno was about to attack Sora when one of the villagers pointed his pitchforks at it making it attack him until Sora blocked it.

"You guys have to fall back, you can't deal with this one!" he said.

"Sir hero!" one of them said.

"Think about your families and how devastated they would be if you died here!" Sora shouted

"He's right, you have to run!" Naofumi said

"Master Naofumi, Sora!" Raphtalia shouted.

"Raphtalia!" they both exclaimed as she ran into the battlefield.

The heartless raised its sword again ready to attack until Naofumi blocked it and pushed him back.

"Both of you, take care of this thing!" Naofumi shouted as he ran up and punched it in the face.

As he did, Sora and Raphtalia managed to strike it down causing it to fade away and a heart to float up.

Raphtalia sheath her sword while Sora dismissed his keyblade as Naofumi said, "good work guys." as they both upgraded to the next level.

"That was surprisingly easier than the last time." Sora said.

"A-amazing!" a villager said in surprise.

"Hurry up and evacuate, we'll handle things here." Raphtalia said

"Alright, but the three of you be careful." the villager said as he nodded to another.

The three of them walked up and saw that there were still more mobs and heartless lurking about.

"They're numbers aren't diminishing, now what?" Naofumi questioned

Just then multiple shots fired into the sky and combined together and rained down on the village.

"LOOK OUT!" Naofumi shouted as he grabbed Raphtalia

"REFLECTGA!" Sora shouted as he prepared a dome around the three of them.

The shots were destroying the heartless and mobs but were causing fires everywhere. Once they stopped a group of knights walked into the village.

"We burned them all to death in one shot." the leader said

Then he noticed Sora, Naofumi, and Raphtalia protected in a dome

"Hmm, the shield hero and his sidekick? You guys are pretty tough." he said snidely

As Sora let down the dome he said, "you guys didn't even care about us, let alone if someone else were here." making Raphtalia angry and rush towards them much to the two's shock. The main guy blocked her attack as she tried to kill him.

"Did you know master Naofumi and Sora were here?! Answer me or I'll have your head!" she said, angry.

"Draw your swords." he ordered.

"What's this? Are you with the shield hero and his little brat?" he asked

"I am their sword, respect them or die." she said.

"Damn demi-human, how dare you point your sword in front of the royal knights?" he said

"If you guys really were the protectors of the kingdom you wouldn't have thought twice to not shoot, but instead you neglected the safety of the people here, what kind of person does that?!" Sora ranted as he walked up next to Raphtalia.

"Guys, forget it." Naofumi said.

"But I-"

"Just let it go!" Naofumi said, interrupting him.

"Excellent advice, if you stay out of our way we won't make any mistakes." the knight said

"I suppose you're right, I guess I could just sit tight and watch the heartless munch on all you morons hearts." Naofumi said as he brandished an evil smile.

"Which wouldn't be the worst idea!" he said.

Just then a bunch of heartless and mobs showed up behind them making the leader turn around in horror.

"Hold your ground and stay in formation!" he ordered.

A large body tried to punch him until Naofumi got in the way and blocked the attack.

"How about dying an honorable death in battle?" Naofumi mocked as the knight fell to the ground

"Now Raphtalia!" Sora shouted.

"Right!" she said as she ran and sliced down the large body.

"We're gonna buy you guys some time, get into formation!" Sora ordered.

"Raphtalia, Sora take off." Naofumi said.

"On it." they both said.

The three of them tag teamed, destroying both heartless and mob soldiers; Naofumi blocked a Neoshadow while Sora did a quick slash, destroying it and the mob next to it. After Raphtalia sliced apart a zombie as another charged at her with it's spear causing her to move and quickly decapitate it.

Behind her another large body tried to attack but both her and Sora dealt with it quickly cutting it down in two slices impressing one of the knights.

"We'll the shield and the kid handle this, we have to offer reinforcement to the three heroes." the knight leader said walking off with the others.

However one knight stayed behind and saw how they were fighting in sync able to destroy the shadow monsters and the zombies. Without even giving a second thought he said, "three knights formation to support the shield hero and his party!" much to the gladness of others.

"Three knights formation!" they shouted

"TO BATTLE!" he shouted.

The knights then engaged with the heartless and zombies with determination to help Naofumi, Sora, and Raphtalia.

"Guys, look at the knights." Raphtalia said, gesturing to them.

Meanwhile the leader looked at his troops fight and was unphased in his decision to leave.

"Idiots, forget em' let's go" he said nonchalantly.

Meanwhile the three heroes dealt with a three-headed beast.

"Wind arrow!" Itsuki shouted

"Crimson Blade!" Ren shouted.

Both attacks wound the beast until Motoyasu led the final attack

"I'll end this, take this! LIGHTNING SPEAR!" he shouted, causing lightning to shoot out towards it destroying it.

Meanwhile down below they had finished killing the last of the enemies.

"Is it over?" Naofumi questioned

"Maybe." Sora said

"But the sky hasn't changed back yet." Naofumi said.

Raphtalia then noticed someone walking in the distance.

"Hey guys, look over there!" she said, pointing to the figure.

As the figure walked closer, the group then saw that it was a woman in a snake mask.

"Knights group up!" the leader ordered as the knights grouped in close to Naofumi and the others.

"You made good work of them, I'm impressed." Invi said.

"I suppose you must be one of those mask people the blacksmith told us about." Naofumi said.

"Indeed, my name is Master Invi, and I've come a long way to meet you Sora." she said.

"Me?" Sora questioned.

"Of course you. My friend has told me and the others a lot about you, yet they remain unconvinced of your strength." she said.

The others immediately got on the defense as they feared the worst of what she was saying.

"What're you implying?" Naofumi questioned.

"I have come to test his strength and see if he's worthy of the name, "Hero of light"." Invi said as she brandished her keyblade and got into a battle stance.

**(Music: kh2 the 13th dilemma)**

"Knights CHARGE!" the leader ordered as the knights charged forward.

"NO WAIT!" Raphtalia shouted.

"SLEEP!" Invi said as she shot out the spell from her keyblade.

As the knights continued to charge forward they suddenly became drowsy and fell to the ground unconscious.

"That should keep them out of the fight for a while." she said.

She then turned her attention to the three rushed at Sora, however, Naofumi managed to get in the way and block her attack; he managed to push her back allowing Raphtalia to engage her in battle as both weapons clashed with each other until Invi got the upperhand and disarmed Raphtalia then kicking her in the chest sending her flying backwards.

Sora managed to catch her and set her down next to Naofumi, he then summoned Oathkeeper and charged at Invi with a flurry of attacks using an air combo to send her flying up, eventually he transformed into light form transforming his new clothes into white-grey palette.

"A form change, interesting." Invi said, surprised.

"You know about those?" Sora asked

"Indeed." Invi said as she charged forth at Sora attacking him with quick slashes which he managed to dodge and counter with a quick slash combo followed up with a flash step and then finishing with a radial blast pushing her back. She managed to quickly recover and slice at him eventually using an array of spells such as fire, wind, blizzard, and lightning to send them all back which Naofumi quickly realized making him call out airstrike shield to minimize the attack but still pushing them.

"This is not good, we're getting our asses handed to her!" Naofumi said.

"What do we do master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked.

"We've gotta find some way to catch her off guard so we can take her down." he said.

This got Sora thinking of a plan causing a lightbulb to go off in his head, "I've got an idea!" he said. He whispered the plan to his friends as Invi approached slowly questioning their actions.

_What's he planning? _She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw they were getting back into a battle stance.

Sora charged forth to engage her and managed to get a few good hits in smacking her with his keyblade until she moved out of the way and grabbed his hand then threw him upward into the sky; she leaped after him and tried to attack, but Sora was crafty and quickly blocked her next attack. While they were fighting she continued wondering why Raphtalia or Naofumi weren't attacking as well, eventually though they both fell to the ground panting heavily as both were near exhaustion.

"Give up...you've...lost." she said winded.

"no...I was just stalling." Sora said, making her confused.

"NOW NAOFUMI!" he shouted.

Naofumi raised his shield and called out, "SHIELD PRISON!" trapping her in a ball.

The three then stood in front of the ball and readied their weapons as they glowed green, orange, and blue.

"Let's go, Naofumi, Raphtalia!" Sora shouted

"Right!" Raphtalia said

"On it!" Naofumi said.

Naofumi jumped up in the air and started throwing his shield at Invi while Sora and Raphtalia rushed at her from the sides slashing her then running from the other to do it again repeatedly without stopping as Naofumi kept throwing his shield. Eventually the prison faded and as one final attack Sora and Raphtalia rushed from the sides one more time and did one final slash as Naofumi came down and slammed his shield at her causing a small explosion of light.

**(Music ends)**

**Team attack: Heroes Rising**

After all was said and done, the heroes looked to see if she was still up and to their surprise she was, until she dropped her keyblade and fell to the ground defeated.

"We did it." Raphtalia said smiling

"Yeah, we did." Sora said.

The victory was short lived however as a corridor of darkness opened revealing a black coated figure.

"You." Sora glared

"Hello Sora, it's been a while." the figure said.

"How is the organization still around? Sora beat you guys to a pulp!" Raphtalia questioned

"Yeah he did, or so he thought." the figure said putting his hands on his sides.

"Who are you and why did your partner attack us?" Naofumi asked.

"So many questions so little time, I'm mainly here on a pickup not an interrogation." the figure said as he picked up Invi.

"Fair warning, you should probably watch your back kid, trust is hard to come by in this world in particular." he said.

"Gee thanks for looking out for us, we appreciate it." Sora said sarcastically.

The figure shrugged his shoulders and walked into the portal with Invi.

"Well that wasn't creepy at all." Naofumi said.

"Master Naofumi, the sky!" Raphtalia exclaimed.

Sora and Naofumi looked up and saw that the portals and dark portals glowed until they dissipated, returning the sky to its original blue color.

The knights that were asleep eventually woke up as Sora came to check on them.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked.

The second in command nodded and said, "we'll be fine, thank you." as he and his soldiers stood and tried to steady themselves still drowsy from the spell.

"What happened to that snake woman?" he asked.

"We managed to defeat her, but she got away." Sora said as he frowned.

"Well if she shows up again, we'll be ready." the knight said.

Sora nodded in affirmation at his words

Later in the day, the villagers returned home and dealt with the wounded and the damage, as well as the casualties that transpired from the heartless and zombies.

Naofumi looked on in sympathy at the people as well as Sora then he turned his attention to the second in command knight who gave them both a look and left with his soldiers.

"Master Naofumi, Sora." Raphtalia said, getting their attention.

"There aren't any more monsters or heartless here, I've killed them all." she said.

"That's good." Naofumi said.

"Yeah, great job." Sora said, not as enthusiastically but still smiling

"I guess it is, but did we win? That masked woman could still come back." she questioned.

This put both Naofumi and Sora into a pit of thought until someone shouted, "sir heroes!" getting their attention. They turned around and saw a man who looked like the leader bowing down at them.

"Thank you very much." he said, "please accept our gratitude there's no way we could've survived without both of your help and courage." he continued.

Hearing this made Naofumi surprised but also happy inside while Sora was just glad.

"Well it wasn't just us we were lucky." Naofumi said.

"That's not true." Sora said.

"He's right, if both of you hadn't been here we would never have been able to push those monsters and shadows back on our own." one said.

"We'll never forget what you have done for us." another said.

"Aw shucks." Sora said rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah whatever." Naofumi said.

After that the villagers left to go deal with the rest of the damage and wounded.

"They looked truly grateful." Raphtalia said.

"They did, didn't they?" Sora said

"I guess." Naofumi said.

"Well one things for sure at least, we did save some kids from going through what I did." Raphtalia said.

"We did." Sora said.

"Yeah." Naofumi said.

"Master Naofumi, Sora.." she trailed off

"Good job today guys." Naofumi said.

"I killed, so many monsters." she said, her voice tearing up a bit and breaking

"It's okay." Sora said.

He walked up to her and gave her a hug while Naofumi patted her head making her gasp a little and cry into Sora's shoulder.

"It's alright." Sora said as he cried a little too.

Back at the church the hourglass emptied then turned upside down and the sand started filling up the bottom of the glass again.

* * *

**World: The World That Never Was**

Invi was laying on a bed in the Castle That Never Was with the Foretellers and Luxu beside her.

"How could you lose to a mere child?! You were able to hold your own and then he beat you!" Aced roared.

"He outsmarted me Aced there's nothing more to it then that." Invi said.

"Which is why he's called the hero of light." Luxu stated.

Aced merely scoffed at that notion, "he's a child how powerful could he be?" he questioned.

"He was powerful enough to stop the second keyblade war Aced, that means he shouldn't be trifled with." Ira said.

"Exactly, going after him during the wave was somewhat of a mistake but one we should learn from." Luxu said, pointing his finger up.

"So you're saying we should catch him off guard?" Gula questioned.

"No, like I said you're supposed to be testing his strengths so I could prove my point and show you why he's a part of the plans we have." Luxu said.

"So you're saying, he could lead us to Ava and the master?" Gula asked.

"Yep." Luxu said as he sat on a chair.

"So, who's next?" he asked.

The foretellers looked at each other then back at Luxu before one stood up and said, "I'll go."

**Author's note: CLIFFHANGER! Who's going to challenge Sora next? Find out next time. I'm SO SO SO sorry I didn't get back to this earlier what with school and this whole pandemic going on and Trump being an idiot about it, it just threw me off, a long ways off and I just got stuck on this chapter because I wanted to figure out how it would go.**

**Some of your reviews have stated that you find this version of Sora weird but what I'm trying to do is make him a little more mature like how he was in Kh2 a little goofy but also serious most of the time. I really hope you like this chapter, I procrastinated on it for months and only got once they released the trailer for season 2. Until then have a nice day and please, wear your mask and be safe.**

**P.s: about the songs, I thought about it and I realized I might have to go outside the Disney universe for some of these characters like Myne for instance.**


End file.
